Phantasm
by Colorful Crayola
Summary: On a dare, Nichole and her friends venture into the woods to take pictures and get proof that an alien spacecraft crash landed in their Estes Park home. However, there was more than just debris in those woods. Now Nichole finds herself trapped in that alien ship, fighting for her life alongside an intergalactic warrior.
1. Preface

**Hello readers! **

**This is my next project! I actually wrote it way before my I am Legend fanfic but it was only recently I got over myself and decided to post it (besides a lot of technical difficulties and like, having to re-write the whole thing because I lost the original documents). I read a few other Predator/AVP fanfics and decided that I shouldn't be embarrassed. uwu**

**(Rated M for swearing and gore and more swearing. Mostly swearing.)**

**PS: I actually had no idea the Predator from AVP:R was actually named Wolf when I wrote this. It was the name I picked out when I first wrote this after AVP came out (I mean it's not that creative of a name anyway so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). I literally just learned that while I was scanning through the list of characters to add to the story haha. Don't that just beat all, considering I wrote this first part BEFORE AVP:R came out and I lived in Colorado at the time so I based it in Colorado... and then AVP:R came out... this shit always happens to me yo (hint: the second part is an AVP:R fanfic continuing the story ;w;).****  
><strong>

****~Crayola****

* * *

><p><em>Preface<em>

_Harness the Light_

Darkness.

I could barely remember why it was dark. Why I was heavy. My mind was still foggy from being out for so long. There was something I was trying _not _to remember. Something too horrific. In the back of my mind I knew I would have to shake it off. If I didn't, I was going to die.

The memories started to come back, but the light didn't.

A plea. Words of wisdom. A soldier next to me, telling me how to get out of this predicament. What predicament?

Wall. I was stuck to a wall.

I was aware my eyes were open, but they had yet to adjust and for a fleeting moment I thought maybe I had just been struck blind, but the darkness faded around the edges until I remembered there was a small light source above me—a dim red light, as if a film were covering it and dulling its brightness. But it cast enough light to see the room.

My hair was plastered to my face, sticky and damp. Something wet and viscous was beginning to dry over my skin. I itched to brush it away, get it off my face, but my arms were pinned. Shit, that's right. I had to get out.

One deep breath to clear my head—I peered around the room. Eggs.

And it was enough to bring it all back to me. The news reports to stay within city limits, away from the national park.

Military trucks driving down the street toward the park.

Horrifying first-hand witnesses of ebony beasts kidnapping people who wandered too close to the treeline.

My friends and I hadn't heeded any of the warnings. We'd thought of it as a game, just something we could put on the internet. The beginnings of an urban legend. We were going to be _internet famous_.

Now, though, it was far too late. But we knew. We had learned the hard way.

The monsters were real. The spaceship crashing had been real. There were real aliens and a real danger and everything I had seen—that I thought I had dreamt—was real.

A dead man next to me with a hole in his chest—that was real.

That egg in front of me was real.

Even the spindly creature writhing inside was real.

Everything was real, right down to the flaps peeling away from the top of the egg and the feeling of dread sitting like a stone in my stomach.

Mother. _Fuck._


	2. The Warning Signs

**Hello readers!**

**Here it is, chapter one! I'm sorry the preface was so short, but hey. It was just a preface. **

**My original plan was to post this on Friday, but I decided to it today because it's Thanksgiving! So here it is, a Thanksgiving present haha. The next chapter will come out next Friday, and that will be my posting schedule! Every Friday a new chapter. Or sooner depending on how I feel. Hopefully you all find that satisfactory. uwu**

**~Crayola**

* * *

><p><em>Chapter One<em>

_The Warning Signs_

Night had fallen hours ago over the Rocky Mountains. During the day the trees of the Rocky Mountain National Park were beautiful—orange and red and yellow leaves, like a painting. It was a scene that brought all of the stupid tourists to Estes Park in order to hike through and take a bunch of pictures and crowd up the town. At night, though, they all looked the same color. Grays and blacks, like a macabre filter. It was creepy.

No, it was_ terrifying_.

Especially when I sat and really thought about what we were doing there, crouched just outside the ticketing buildings. I had a flashlight in my hand and my two best friends from high school at either of my sides, waiting for the signal to move out.

"This is a terrible idea, guys," Jess hissed in our ears. She was the meekest of our group of friends, Michelle being the most brazen and me coming up in the middle to even everyone out. It wasn't a perfect system, but I managed to keep Michelle from tearing Jess apart while keeping Jess from making Michelle _want_ tear her apart.

More often than not I wondered how we were all friends in the first place. But we had been for years. It was hard work keeping the group together, but I thought I was doing a pretty decent job of it. It wasn't perfect, but what relationship was?

Jess was your typical artsy type. She kept mostly to herself when she couldn't hang out with me or Michelle, but she tended to follow me around in particular. The two of us had been friends since elementary school, and we'd met Michelle in middle school. Michelle was easily the prettiest of the three of us—she worked hard to keep her blonde hair in line and was the first person to start wearing makeup. I was the athletic one who could bounce between them and my teammates if I needed to.

Michelle could fit in just right with the popular girls, but for some reason she always came and hung out with Jess and I. She was usually pretty bubbly and spoke her mind, maybe she fancied herself the leader of our little group. That was just fine with me and Jess, so it worked.

"It'll be fine," Michelle insisted, waving her hand dismissively by her head. "Can't be true. There woulda been pictures and stuff already."

"Whatever. We go in, look around, then leave. It'll take like what, half an hour? Maybe—how deep into the park do you think it actually is?" Voice of reason.

I felt Michelle shrug next to me. "Who knows. But man it's fucking cold as balls out here!"

"Where's Jake at? Doesn't he usually keep you _warm_?" I ribbed playfully.

She reached back and smacked me on the shoulder. "He's with his friends. We'll meet up at the ship whenever we find it."

"If we find it," Jess sighed.

"Yeah yeah, sure."

A lot of people from the junior class and some of the other classes were scattered here and there, waiting to run into the national park. Rumor had it that a spaceship had landed in there early in the morning. No one had believed it until later that afternoon when a caravan of military trucks had traveled down this very same road into the park.

But we hadn't seen any of them _leave_. And there was only one road through there. You passed the ticketing buildings to validate your parking, then you drove in and parked. From there you could take a few different hiking paths. If they hadn't left from that road, then we were certain they probably hadn't left since they'd arrived. Either they were going to stay in there forever to study the ship or they weren't going to come out _at all_.

Then there were the rumors of people inside the park going missing all day. Before the military stepped in, people had started getting search parties together. Most of them had been tourists that wanted to see the leaves change—as if you could just stare at the fucking trees and watch the green leaves turn yellow. Fucking tourists—but the whole thing had started when some of the park rangers had gone missing early in the morning.

A few witnesses said it was monsters with skin black as night. That screeched and hissed.

All they could be were rumors, though, right? There was no way _aliens_ had chosen to land out here in the middle of nowhere, Colorado.

Well, maybe.

If there was anywhere aliens would prefer to land, it would be here in the middle of nowhere. The city of Estes Park was there—one road in, one road out.

Maybe it was just some military drone.

That had to be it. People went missing in the park every now and again. Sure they didn't go missing in _droves_ like they had today, but it had to be something else.

A light flashed off to our side—that was the signal to move out. Michelle was up instantly and I trailed after her. Jess brought up the rear, whining slightly. Shadows moved around us—the rest of our class. The plan had started on Facebook: have the entire junior year go to the woods and see if they could hunt down and get pictures of whatever had landed in the woods. There was a big pool of bets for the people who came back with pictures.

Plus, _internet fame._

And some _alien hunting_.

Somehow the teachers had gotten wind of the plan and tried to tell us not to go—they held an emergency assembly where the principal warned us that if we went through with this, we'd be facing suspension and detention and all kinds of other things. That we weren't supposed to be getting in the way of the military and the police investigating the incident.

It might have stopped some people, but not us.

Michelle was the one who convinced the three of us to go. She was one year older than us and had a car, so getting there was easy. Jess hadn't wanted anything to do with it, but she also didn't want to be left out. Me—I was always up for a little bit of _adventure_.

Sneaking out of the house had been easy. My parents always went to bed at a certain time—before I did. All I had to do was wait about an hour after they went to bed and then walk out the back door. They always slept like rocks and this wasn't the first time I'd snuck out of the house. Usually the sound of the door opening made the dogs bark, but no one listened to the dogs.

We always just told them to shut up because they were _constantly_ barking. At everything.

Getting into the park had been hard. We'd ended up ditching Michelle's car when we realized that the main entrance was being guarded. I wasn't sure why we hadn't expected that. We'd parked and then went the long way around by just walking. We had spent hours before that picking out our outfits—our darkest and warmest clothes.

Me—I'd chosen my darkest blue pair of skinny jeans and some hiking boots my mom had. Underneath a dark green, heavy jacket I was wearing a gray long-sleeve shirt. Jess was wearing dark red, and Michelle. . . the darkest thing she had was a deep mauve jacket.

It had been dark, even darker because I didn't dare turn on my flashlight, but we'd made it past the checkpoint and met up with the rest of our brave classmates.

And now, it was go time. We followed the rest of our friends into the woods.

Once we'd snuck through the trees and around the ticketing buildings, I turned on the flashlight I had brought and broke off from the main road. Based on firsthand accounts, we would have to walk pretty deep into the forest to find the ship—or whatever—that had touched down. There were no official statements about it, but we hadn't expected there to be.

Like the _government_ would tell us an _alien ship_ landed in our woods.

"Get off of me, Jess! I can't take the pictures if you're clinging to my arm like that!" Michelle whispered harshly, pulling her arm out of Jess's grasp. She had brought an actual camera that she used for her photography elective so that was her job.

Mine was just to shine the light and keep Jess from freaking out too badly.

"Sorry," Jess muttered, taking a step back and falling to my side instead. I flashed her a smile and was fine with letting her pull on my arm.

I huddled against the cold, pulling my jacket close. It got real cold at night but the heavy jacket I had with me was enough to that it was only a slight chill I felt. I was even wearing some leggings underneath my jeans. "C'mon—I see lights flashing up ahead that way."

At least it hadn't started snowing yet. Couple more weeks, yet. . . .

Following the flashlights, we turned and hurried onward. The snapping of twigs kept making me jump, but the exhilaration of it all fueled me on. After all, if there _were_ aliens, how _cool_ would that be? Would just have to be careful not to end up a missing person.

"Is it a race?" Jess asked.

Michelle shook her head and motioned for me to move up with the flashlight. "Nah, just anyone who actually gets pictures and doesn't chicken out gets a cut of the pot."

"What if everyone gets pictures?"

"I don't know, Jess! I didn't make the rules. Everyone gets some money, then."

"Not a lot of people showed up, though," I replied, looking around. The ground was starting to slope upwards and was making traveling hard. "Principal Keller sure did make his point."

A sharp, derisive snort from Michelle. "Puh-lease. If everyone had shown up what was he going to do? Have the entire junior year suspended? Take away one of our dances? We're _juniors._ We'll be able to go to prom _next year_. Bunch of wimps."

I just shrugged. "So long as I don't kicked off the soccer team I don't care what he does."

"No way," Jess piped up. "You're their star goalkeeper. They wouldn't ever kick you off."

My chest swelled proudly and I smiled at her. "Yeah sure, if you say so," I replied modestly. Really I was just the varsity back up, but I played my fair share of games.

As if to prove her wrong, I tripped on a rock I hadn't seen in front of me. Somehow I managed to stay upright and recovered with a low hiss of surprise. Jess was still attached to my arm and I almost took her down with me.

The stupid dark wasn't making this hike any easier.

Some of the lights up ahead faded or veered off on different paths. We decided to keep going straight up the hill and deeper into the woods. Jess seemed to be relaxing more and stood on her own at last, freeing up my movement quite a bit. The forest had settled and with our eyes adjusted to the light, everything was a little less scary.

"Hey—hey are these trees broken? Nichole come shine the light!" Michelle hissed after what seemed like ages of walking. I had just about considered giving up.

I sighed and turned the light where she pointed and sure enough there was a large amount of debris we had stumbled on. It was as if the ship had come in a little too low and uprooted several trees. They were all torn up from the ground, roots sticking up and covered in dirt. Several more trees were uprooted ahead, but then the destruction stopped, as if the ship had corrected itself and lifted up again.

"Holy shit. . . did it crash land or just make a fail landing?" I marveled, turning around in my spot to look up and around, gauging the destruction around us.

Michelle huffed. "Does it matter? We're going the right way!"

Up ahead I could see other people's flashlights.

"Alright, well I guess let's follow the destruction," I suggested, stepping over a fallen branch. We would have to find a way around the trees, but we were definitely headed in the right direction.

But still no sign of any military people.

Michelle squealed giddily. "Aliens! A real alien spaceship! C'mon let's hurry! Maybe we can see a real live alien!"

Before anyone could respond she was jogging ahead of us, taking pictures of the broken trees. I rolled my eyes and jogged to catch up to her and light up the path. Jess followed along next to me and I smiled at her.

"It'll be fun, Jess! Isn't it exciting? Aliens! Adventure!" I said, trying to bring up her spirits just a little bit. I didn't want her to whine the whole time and upset Michelle, but I also wanted her to be comfortable. I was excited—we were out on a real adventure, hunting aliens and working as a team. This was supposed to be fun and a little scary.

It was supposed to get my blood pumping, supposed to get me feeling _alive_. I was living the movies now, really doing something. I felt as if I was in one of my favorite books, going on a big adventure full of danger.

She shook her head. "I just have a bad feeling, is all. . . . I mean people have really been disappearing and we're walking into the woods like we _want _to get kidnapped!"

I shrugged. "I know, I know. You could have stayed home, though. It's still not too late to go back, y'know."

Her brows knit together and she sighed. "Yes it is! I'm not about to walk home through the woods and the dark all by myself. . . I probably should have stayed home."

"I'm sorry," I sighed, running a hand through my hair, recently colored auburn instead of my natural brown. I'd decided to leave it down instead of putting it up in a pony-tail, to protect my neck from the chill. Scarves were too cumbersome and I didn't own anyway.

Jess chuckled. "Why? You didn't make me come along."

"I kinda feel like I did, and I'm sorry for that."

Michelle stopped up ahead, one hand on her hip. "Hurry up you slow-pokes! It may not be a race but I will _not_ be the last person there! I promised I'd meet Jake at the ship and he could be waiting for me _right now_!"

Both Jess and I rolled our eyes, but we jogged to catch up to her.

*:･ﾟ✧

We hiked onward for what seemed to be miles and miles. Already we had hiked deeper into the forest than I ever had, climbing over rocks and fallen trees, following the flash of lights up in the distance and the occasional shout. I was slightly afraid that a cougar or a bear would come find us, but I also figured that all of the activity in the area would have scared the wildlife away.

"How far did this thing crash?" Jess asked. She sounded breathless and even I was feeling a little fatigued, even though I was in better shape than Jess or Michelle.

"Fuck if I know," Michelle muttered, stopping for a second to lean against a tree.

Jess looked between us. "Did anyone bring any water?" she asked.

Water. I knew I had forgotten something. "No, sorry. . . it completely slipped my mind," I admitted with a groan.

Michelle groaned, too. "You play soccer! How could you forget water? That's like—the only thing you drink!"

"I know I know," I muttered. "When we meet up with the others we can see if they have water."

Both of my friends groaned and I rolled my eyes. "One of you could have brought water, too you know," I pointed out.

"Yeah yeah. . . we all _suck_," Michelle muttered.

I sighed and sat down on a rock to take a break, but then immediately popped back up with a squeak when something wet and cold soaked through my pants.

"Ew," I hissed, brushing my hand against the seat of my pants. They came away with something slimy and I shook it off with a disgusted grunt. It proved to be stickier than I thought, though, and I had to wipe it off on a branch.

"What?" Michelle asked, pushing off her tree to come to my side.

"I don't know I sat on some—stupid slug or something? I don't know it was slimy and nasty!" I muttered, brushing the rest of it off my pants and wiping it on a nearby tree. A little shudder went through my body and I tried not to think about it.

Michelle just giggled. "Ew don't sit on slugs man. . . ."

Jess just looked confused. "Are there even slugs out here? I mean. . . isn't it a bit cold?" she asked. I had almost forgotten the cold: all of the hiking was making me sweat a little bit.

"Man I don't know," I sighed.

Irritated and grossed out, I turned my flashlight to the rock I'd sat on but it didn't seem like there was a slug there at all. . . just a small puddle of slime.

"The hell. . . ?" I whispered more to myself than to anyone.

Shouting from up ahead caught our attention and we all straightened up, looking ahead. I was on edge for a moment, but the shouting seemed excited, not scared. All three of us shared glances, and then we were off again, clambering over fallen trees and trying to catch up to the others.

I could see more flashlights through the darkness and the trees started to thin. When we broke through the tree line, we were overlooking a steep valley. Dozens of our classmates were already making their way down the hill, shouting to each other. The occasional camera flash lit up the mountain side and it made it seem like we could see better now.

My mouth fell open slightly and I put a hand on Jess's shoulder, as if for support. "Holy shit, I can't believe it."

"Yes!" Michelle squealed.

A giant ship like none I'd ever seen before was set down in a clearing on the side of the next hill over. A real alien ship.


	3. See the Dogs

**Hey readers!**

**Here's chapter two. :) I changed my mind and decided that I was going to post a chapter once every five days! That should give me plenty of time to do my proof-reading and make necessary revisions to the chapters before I post them up. Please let me know what you think, any suggestions or questions or comments or whatever don't matter. **

**Enjoy!**

**~ Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Two<p>

See the Dogs

The ship certainly _was_ huge—it had to have been the size of a large cruise ship. Dark, reflective metal covered its surface. It was shaped like an arrow, with two large, knife-like engines on each side. The thing was all sharp angles, like it was a weapon in and of itself. Thin, sleek, and aerodynamic. Whoever designed it could have only been a much more advanced race. I wasn't even sure how it had remained hidden, but we had hiked for a little over an hour.

There were signs of the military about—blacked out stadium lights and some various equipment scattered around, abandoned. Now that we were out in the open, we could see a lot better without trees casting shadows.

But still no sign of the _actual_ military personnel. I couldn't decide if that was good or bad.

Camera flashes lit up the hill side and we followed Michelle all the way down the hill until we met up with other groups from our class, all the while she was snapping pictures. The valley dipped and then there was another hill where the ship was settled, and we stopped at the bottom of the valley.

"This is so exciting! I wonder if they found a way in yet," Michelle wondered aloud. Everyone was talking a lot louder now that there were more people around and we weren't sneaking through the dark woods.

"I'm not going inside," Jess whined.

"No one's going to go inside. It could be dangerous," I agreed.

Michelle snorted and waved her hand at us. "Don't be pussies, c'mon."

Sighing, I rolled my eyes and caught up with the others. The moon was just a sliver in the sky, so it didn't provide much light. All we had to see by were the flashlights everyone had brought and the occasional camera flash. I wondered why so many people were here despite the warnings, but then again. . . my friends and I were all there too, taking pictures and breaking the law.

"Hey you guys made it!" Michelle's boyfriend, Jake, called out. He and his friends were halfway up the steep hill, but jogged down to meet us when they spotted us.

"Of course!" she squeaked, bounding into his arms.

"Isn't it amazing?" his friend, Rick, mused. He was facing the ship with a couple other boys I didn't really recognize. Outside of Jess and Michelle, I didn't really spend a lot of time with other people. Usually I was at soccer practice or at home reading.

None of my soccer friends were there, either. Unlike me, they had decided to stay at home and go to bed at a decent hour so they would be ready for practice. And none of them wanted to get kicked off the team—I was beginning to question my own decisions, but Michelle had just been so persuasive when she was convincing Jess and I to come.

In the end it didn't really matter. I always stayed up late anyway, and it was only just hitting half past one in the morning. Plenty of time to finish taking the pictures and get home.

"Can you guys believe it!" Michelle squealed giddily, bouncing up and down where she stood. It was funny how just moments ago she was complaining about how tired and thirsty she was, and now she was pumped full of energy again.

To tell the truth, the prospect of looking at a _real_ alien spacecraft was making me a little giddy, too. It was so _unreal,_ and yet here it was.

"What do you think it's doing here?" Rick asked. He still hadn't torn his gaze from the spaceship.

I shrugged. "Maybe it just needed somewhere to touch down and repair."

"No way! It came here to _harvest_ us! Why else would people go missing?" Jake teased.

Jess whined slightly and I felt her hand grip my jacket. "Don't say that!"

Michelle giggled, clinging to Jake's arm with her camera dangling from the lanyard around her neck. "Yeah shh Jess is _scared_."

"Why wouldn't she be?" I snapped back defensively. "We're out here in the middle of the night with an alien spaceship and people have been _disappearing_. Let's just get the pictures so we can get out of here."

Though Michelle rolled her eyes, she let go of Jake's arm and turned her camera back on. She took a couple steps up the hill and started snapping pictures. "So cool, so _cool_!"

Jess shot me a grateful smile and I nodded at her before trailing after Michelle.

"Hey did anyone bring some water? We totally forgot," I finally remembered to ask after a few more steps.

Jake nodded and motioned one of the other guys over. I thought his name was Victor. He jogged over and looked between everyone, wondering what we wanted. "Hey what's up?" he asked, hunching his shoulders against the chill. Guy was trying to be macho apparently and hadn't worn a heavy jacket.

"You still got the water?" Jake asked.

"Yeah sure," Maybe-Victor said, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a couple bottles of water. At least someone had some foresight.

The bottles were distributed and Michelle got the first swig—Jake was her boyfriend, after all.

"Oh _lord_ that hit the spot!" Michelle sighed, handing the bottle off to me.

I let Jess have a drink first, then finished the bottle off and handed it back to Maybe-Victor. He stuck it back in his bag and I was glad he had the presence of mind not to just toss it on the ground like he was some lazy tourist.

Michelle whined impatiently and grabbed Jake's hand. "C'mon let's find a way in! I bet we can get some really great pictures inside! This should have been a contest!"

"No _c'mon_ that's a terrible idea. Let's get the pictures and go home," Jess pleaded.

"Yeah seriously. I mean—guys, people have gone _missing_. If it really was because of this ship, then the last thing we should do is _go inside_ and try to meet these kidnapping aliens!" I was really starting to feel like a broken record, but Michelle still didn't seem very interested in listening to reason and logic.

Jake and his boys shared a glance, but Michelle's eyes lit up and her lips turned up in the biggest shit-eating grin I'd seen. "That's it! We can go inside and find the missing people! We'll be freaking _heroes_!" she declared, clapping her hands together once.

"What? No that's a terrible idea!" Jess scolded.

"Then you guys can walk back home. We'll stay and become big heroes and you guys can go be _safe_ at home!" Michelle teased, her hands on her hips.

I furrowed my brow and crossed my arms. "Michelle."

She sucked her breath in and put on her best pouty face. "I was just teasing!"

"Yeah I don't know Michelle we should probably not go inside the ship. It might not be safe and I don't want you to get hurt," Jake pointed out, draping an arm over her shoulder.

"Aw! Jake!"

Both Jess and I made faces at the resulting kissy-faces we had to witness. "Yeah okay so we got some pictures, so let's head back before people realize that we're missing, hm?"

"Let's at least get closer," Rick suggested, turning eagerly to the ship.

"Really?" Jess sighed.

Though I was ready to argue, a shout from on top of the hill caught all of our attention. We turned to look up and saw some shadows at the crest of the hill we had just descended.

_Adults_.

"You kids can't be here!" one of them yelled, flashing a light down and momentarily blinding me. I lifted my hand against the glare, but he swept the light over the others.

"Shit," Michelle muttered.

Maybe-Victor turned and cupped his hands over his mouth so he could shout up the hill. "_Cops_!"

I wasn't sure how he saw that they were cops, but I wasn't about to argue, either.

More shouts picked up and people started to scuttle like bugs across the hillsides, turning off flashlights and ducking into the trees. Michelle clutched Jake and our little group started to surge along the valley floor, trying to skirt around the adults at the top.

"Hey! Get back here! It's not safe!" another voice from on top of the hill called.

Not even seconds later, the frantic and slightly giddy shouts took a shrill turn, transforming into fear-torn shrieks and screams. We all stopped in our tracks and turned toward the ship, where the cries for help had started to ripple out from.

"What the fuck?" Rick muttered, bringing his flashlight up. I whirled around as well, pointing my flashlight toward the spacecraft.

Already people had been running, but now it had turned to terrified sprinting. Their shadows flitted this way and that, and behind them, even darker shadows chased after them, screeching an unholy sound I hadn't ever heard before.

Oh god.

"See! See! We gotta get outta here!" Jess wailed, turning and running.

We followed her lead and bolted back up the hill, deciding the cops at the top were the lesser of two evils. My heart threatened to leap straight out of my chest and I could hear my blood roaring in my ears. At the top of the hill, there was a grand total of three local police officers, all with their guns drawn and beckoning toward us.

"Hurry! Keep going! Don't stop!" they called, helping us up the hill before urging us into the forest and pointing us in the right direction.

The forest rushed up to swallow us and we scattered. Already I was breathing heavily, but not from the exertion. Though I was in decent shape thanks to soccer, fear mixed had with the effort of climbing uphill and I was running low on breath. I was vaguely aware that somewhere along the line we had all separated from each other, but I was focused on running and not killing myself.

"Jess?" I shouted when I realized I was alone. I stopped for a moment to listen for a sign that someone was close. "Michelle! Someone!"

Fuck—fuck _fuck._

Then I heard the _pop! pop! pop!_ of gunfire behind me. I glanced back briefly, my body frozen briefly from fear. I couldn't stop. It wasn't safe to stop.

I had to remember to just keep going. I took a deep breath, turned back and ran through the woods as fast as I possibly could, despite having to maneuver around trees and rocks. I cursed my luck and the fact that I hadn't stayed home. More blood-curdling screams from behind me propelled me forward, though I recognized them—one after the other.

Jess. . . then Michelle and Rick. . . finally Jake's shout.

This whole thing had been a terrible idea. It hadn't seemed like it at the time, but it was. What did we really think was going to happen if it was an alien spacecraft? That they were going to walk out in beams of light, declare that they had come in peace, and make us their official ambassadors?

When we'd heard that people were _disappearing_?

We had been so stupid! The only thing that would have happened was _we _would go missing!

From my side I could hear something sprinting. Whatever it was hissed in the darkness and adrenaline surged through my veins, making me kick it into high gear. Had I been on flat, even, and open ground I might have been able to outrun it. I might have been able to have a chance—but I had to dodge roots and avoid crashing into trees.

Branches obscured my vision and I had to swallow a sob. No time to cry. No time to freak out.

It didn't seem to matter. From what I had seen of their dark shapes against the hill, the things chasing us were quadrupeds—long tails, streamline figures. . . .

I would never hope to out-run something using _four_ legs.

But I had to try. I had to _try._

The alien monster was catching up. I could hear it get closer, hear its hiss and quiet screech. I could hear its quick footfalls behind me, the rustle of vegitation.

For some reason I was struck with the overwhelming desire to look behind me. I glanced back for just a second, but it was enough to lose my footing on the uneven ground. Something between a squeak and a scream left my lips before the ground met me and the air was knocked from my lungs.

Stupid, stupid, _stupid_. How many times had I chastised the bimbos in horror movies for doing the exact same thing?

I fought to get to my feet, but quickly whirled around when a screech punctuated the air behind my fallen body.

Glistening teeth and a sleek black hide filled my world. The thing was the size of a large lion and it seemed to be made of some sort of exoskeleton. It's ribcage was clearly visible, and it looked like it was nothing but muscle. It's oblong head stretched out behind it, long and eyeless.

But those teeth.

Those teeth were at the forefront of my mind. Silver, glistening, and _deadly_. The thing was not unlike an insect with long, gangly limbs and clawed hands. A long, segmented and skeletal tail stretched several feet behind it, lashing and writhing like it was alive.

This wasn't like any aliens from the movies. They weren't little gray men with big eyes. They weren't green men with big, pulsating brains. I wasn't even sure if I believed that these aliens were the ones that _flew_ the ship. They were too bestial, too feral. It looked more like a demon than what I'd pictured aliens looked like.

Attack dogs, maybe?

I screamed and lifted my hands to protect my face, but it landed on top of me instead, driving the air from my lungs with a staggering force. I wheezed once and tried to curl inward to protect my core. Stars broke across my vision and I rasped out a pitiful cry in pain and fear when I felt myself being dragged across the ground.

Sticks and rocks grabbed at my clothes and scratched my face. I heard my jacket tear slightly a couple times. All the while I grabbed at whatever I could, trying to hold onto something and stop. A sob was torn from my throat and tears pricked my eyes.

Though I didn't know what good it would do, I screamed at the top of my lungs. Shrieked and wailed for help. My face stung when sticks slashed across it, my fingers ached from trying to dig into the ground, but I didn't want to give up. I couldn't give up. I didn't know what this hellish thing had in store for me but I didn't want to find out.

I just wanted to go back _home_.

Crawl under my bed, hope this was a dream—

—Wake up. Wake up wake up _wake up_.

The thing was ridiculously strong. Even when I managed to grab a root and stall my progress, the thing just pulled until my arms burned and I had to let go. It dragged me along behind it, screeching. It's tail swished by overhead and I noted the wicked-looking barb at the tip of its tail. Despite being even skinnier than me, the thing was so strong. . . so fast. It dragged me as if I was nothing.

Something struck me in the side of my head. White-hot pain flashed through my nerves, and then darkness was all I knew for a time.


	4. Parasite

**Hello readers!**

**Don't worry don't worry... the predator is gonna show up soon!**

**Thanks to those of you who take the time to review and follow and fav. :) Makes my day! Next chapter is due on Friday! See you all then!**

**~Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Three<p>

Parasite

The first thing I noticed when I came to was the acrid smell. Moldy mildew and humidity. Soon after I could hear muffled sounds, a steady drip, and rustling. My head throbbed with a dull pain, right behind my eyes. I couldn't remember why—had I overslept?

For a blissful moment I thought everything had been a horrendous dream and that I was just back at home and really needed to clean my pillowcase.

I was warm enough. But I was also _upright_ instead of lying down.

Oh. It hadn't been a dream.

That was just the maybe-concussion talking.

My sight faded in and out and when I tried to move, tried to lift my arms and rub my head, I found that my limbs were stuck to a wall. My hair was wet and clung to my face, and for one terrifying heart beat I thought I was covered in my own blood—but that wasn't it either. My whole body felt sticky, but it reminded me of that slime I had sat on.

Still, I wasn't convinced that _none_ of it was blood. My head hurt too much for it to have not bled, even just a little bit.

I wiggled and fought to free myself, but the heavy and slightly wet substance held fast. After a bit I gave up my struggles and hung there to let myself catch my breath and my strength. When my eyes had adjusted to the half-light, I could see that alongside me one or two other people were plastered to the wall. Across from me there were even more people.

Their heads were hanging lifeless, and I couldn't really see them well enough to tell if I could recognize them or not. As my sight adjusted, though, I made out larger details. One I could see was wearing military-style clothing, and I assumed it was the small squad that had been sent in.

One of them was missing an entire portion of their chest.

I sucked in deep, noisy breaths and tried to keep calm, but the sight of his blood and the entrails dangling from the gaping hole made me dry heave. Tears pricked at my eyes and I looked around frantically for something, anything that would help me.

There was nothing.

Absolutely fucking nothing.

Just as I was about to call for help, the man next to me jerked awake and I started with a loud gasp. At least there was one person who was _alive._

"Hey! Hey you're alive! Hey!" I called to him desperately, leaning as far as I could toward him. I shook my damp hair out of my eyes when it slapped wetly against my cheek, but without free hands I only managed to budge it a couple inches.

He drew in one deep breath and lifted his head heavily, looking around until finally his gaze fell on me. For a moment I thought that maybe he couldn't see me in the dark, but eventually his eyes focused and he stared at me for the longest time, as if he didn't understand. After a couple heartbeats of being stared at, though, he became dismayed.

"Hey!" I whispered at him again, eyes wide with hope. "You okay?"

"No—no you weren't supposed to come. We had—we told civilians to stay away. Who—who else?" he demanded hoarsely.

For a second I hesitated, almost terrified of getting a lecture, but I quickly pushed that aside.

This was so much bigger than a lecture.

"Most of my class!" I finally admitted. "There was Facebook—people were taking bets—we were supposed to get pictures and—and then we were attacked! It wasn't supposed to—what do we do? What do we do!" My voice was verging on hysteric and I fought against my restraints again—if they could be called that. It seemed like dried slime had hardened and was keeping me glued to the wall.

"Calm down, calm down," he urged, head bobbing slightly.

I took in a few more breaths and swallowed my tears. It took a couple precious moments for me to calm down, but then I nodded and kept my eyes on him. "Okay. Okay."

"You just have to be calm and you can get out. What's your name?" he asked. His voice was subdued and he kept grunting and bending in at the waist as much as he could, as if he was in some sort of pain. That concerned me greatly.

"Nichole," I managed, voice wavering. I eyed him and tried to figure out what was wrong.

"Alright Nichole. My name is Sargent Simmons. I don't—I don't have much time. But you have to get out quick, okay?" he scrunched up his face in pain and grit his teeth.

"What do you mean?" I whimpered. So there _was_ something wrong. "Are you okay?"

He nodded toward the ground and I followed his gaze. In front of him there looked to be some sort of dead spider the size of my chest. It had a long tail and was belly-up, legs curled in on itself. I continued examining the ground until I saw large eggs sitting in a cluster right before us.

"That thing—it stuck something inside me. I can feel it—trying to get out."

The hyperventilating started again and I glanced around the room at all the other walls—there were more and more people—dozens of them. Most of them seemed to be military personnel, but I recognized one of the cops from the hill. Some had holes in their chest, others just seemed unconscious.

And some had a spider thing stuck to their face, tails wrapped around their throats and finger-like legs gripping around their heads.

_Facehuggers_.

Then his words sank in and I slowly turned my head toward him. This time I couldn't keep the tears from leaving trails on my cheeks.

_It stuck something inside me_.

The gaping holes in those people's chests—that was what it was? The spiders—they put something _inside_ them? And then they—oh no. Oh god.

_Me_. I was. . . _next_.

"Nichole you have to stay with me," Simmons demanded when I started to whimper and choke back sobs. His breathing had become more labored.

I nodded and tried to calm down, but it was difficult. The tears had started to slide silently down my cheeks, and I had to grit my teeth against the sobs that formed stones in my chest. I swallowed the lump in my throat and pursed my lips, breathing in and out through my nose instead. I shook my head and tried to clear the tears from my eyes so I could see properly.

"More will come out of those eggs and when they do, you can't be here. Do you understand?" Simmons was trying his best to enunciate through his grunts of pain.

Again, I nodded. I understood acutely.

"Just thrashing around isn't going to get you out of this stuff, okay?" I didn't even mind that he was speaking to me like I was five. It was oddly soothing.

"Okay, okay." Can't panic. Can't lose control. Can't give in to despair.

He nodded and took in a deep, pained breath. "You gotta do it smart. Take deep breaths, flex your arms. You have to try to stretch it. Try rotating back and forth, too. First left, then right." He managed a small smile and demonstrated for me.

I had to think about it for a moment, but then I started to twist left and right over and over again. I did everything he said, and I was relieved to find that it seemed to working a little bit.

"Good—just keep doing that. When it's loose enough to get your arms free, you'll need to get them up over your head and you should be able to pull yourself up and out—if not, you'll be able to pull away at the stuff. You have to work fast, but do not panic, okay?" he advised. His voice was getting heavy and his body bucked.

"Okay, okay. I think I can do it. I'll do it," I amended, turning and twisting like he said until I felt it come loose just a little bit more. "What about you?"

"Forget about me. Forget about them all unless you can without a doubt get them out, okay?"

"What?" I stared at him in horror.

"_Do not_ stop for anyone. Their best bet at survival is _you_ getting out and finding someone to come help." Simmons' body heaved and he choked on something.

"Simmons?" I whimpered in a small voice, stopping my movement for just a little bit.

He said nothing, but his body started to convulse. My eyes widened and a fresh batch of tears spilled past my eyelids as I watched. I could hear bones cracking, flesh tearing, and then he let out a scream that would haunt me for years.

With a sickening sound, blood spurt from his chest, splattering the air in a mist. I watched on, horrified, as a slick head burst out from the hole. It hissed and peered around with a sightless, gray head. My mouth fell open and the little baby serpent-spider-thing squeaked, climbed out of Simmons' chest cavity, then tumbled to the floor and slithered off.

_Chestburster_.

My chest heaved rapidly and my mind spun, making me feel dizzy, disoriented—like I had been dunked in a vat of water. Nausea turned my stomach and I retched, losing the dinner I'd eaten hours ago. My brain couldn't process what had happened. It didn't know how to deal with it. So it did probably the worst thing it could have done to me.

It shut down.

It dragged me back into that dark void.

*:･ﾟ✧

When consciousness returned to me I knew I had just lost a bunch of time.

Once again I found myself thinking that it had been a dream. Some meta. . . dream within a dream. I opened my eyes with hope and nearly spiraled into depression.

It was all real

Actually _fucking _happening.

And I had to get _out_.

The egg directly in front of me was beginning to stir. Somehow I managed to remember Simmons' advice and I continued my work with vigor, loosening the crust around me. The entire time I repeated a quiet, desperate mantra in my head.

_Must not lose hope_._ Must not panic_.

I wriggled my arms free and pushed aside chunks of the casing around me until I could maneuver them above my head. Using all the strength I could muster, I heaved myself up, pushing on the thick strands holding me down. Sometimes it broke away and I lost my leverage, but eventually I managed to pull myself out and I landed hard on the ground.

By then the egg was completely open.

And the thing moving inside was shifting and writhing to free itself.

My eyes darted frantically around the room and I whimpered loudly. I had to find something to defend myself. I'd lost my flashlight when I'd been grabbed—but maybe Simmons had something!

Quick as I could, I scrambled to my feet and hurried up to the wall where Simmons was. However, I came face-to-face with his wide open ribcage and nearly lost whatever was left in my stomach. My face paled and I backed away from him, trembling.

A tiny little squeal echoed behind me.

_Shit!_ I couldn't afford to be squeamish!

Another tiny wail sounded behind me and I whirled around with just enough time to lift my hands defensively as the big gray spider lunged for my face. Thank you years of soccer. It hit both of my arms and its long tail wrapped around my bicep—though I knew it had been for my throat.

The thing was much stronger than I would have given it credit—the thing looked frail as hell. It's tail tensed and flexed around my arm, pushing against me and trying to pull itself closer to my face. I struggled against it and stumbled backwards, but the facehugger thrashed around and its finger-like legs scratched at my skin.

The bottom of it was a fleshy red color that looked an awful lot like something from a bad porn—I assumed. After another bout of struggling, a piece of flesh shifted aside and some disgusting phallus wiggled out.

Panic bloomed in my chest and I tripped backwards, landing heavily on my ass. I almost lost my strength for an instant, but I managed to keep my arms locked and the thing away from my face.

Oh _shit_ oh _fuck. Oh Jesus_.

Did it want to shove that thing _down my_ _throat_?

Adrenaline pumped through my veins like lava. I felt my eyes widen and I leaned back away from the abomination of nature. After a second I turned over, shifting my arms so I could hold it back with one hand and wedge it against the ground. I ground my teeth together as my palm pressed into its squishy pink center and my skin crawled. It writhed and squealed, its legs lashing, but I had it pinned against the ground with most of my weight.

Carefully but quickly I worked my fingers around its skeletal tail, prying it from the tip like you were supposed to do when a snake wraps around you. The thing bucked and almost got loose underneath my hand, but I shifted so I could hold it down with my knee as well. A tremor of disgust wriggled down my spine at the sickening squelching sound it made.

It squeaked once and I felt its grip on my arm loosen. I took my chance and pried its tail free of my arm and tossed it angrily across the room. It thrashed around upside down on the ground and then skittered off, tail arched high over its back.

I knew it was going to come back.

Before it could, I turned back to Simmons.

No time to be squeamish. I had to suck it up. I wanted to _survive_ and I was not going to let a weak constitution steal my life from me.

This time I didn't hesitate. I tugged and pulled at the hardened substance around him until I pried open a hole. Though my hands were getting bloody, I still searched his body until I came up with a gun. The Colorado Youth Outdoors club I'd joined with my mom taught me gun safety, but the only gun I'd actually fired was a shotgun—and that was at skeet. Between that and all the action movies I'd seen, I knew the gist of it.

Still, the weapon felt slightly foreign in my hands and my fingers trembled as I checked the safety and pulled back the barrel, but this was my one chance. Somehow I was going to have to make this work. I turned when I heard the thing squeal behind me.

It was airborne already.

My breath caught and I raised the gun in my hands and rapidly fire two shots. The recoil surprised me and I missed the first one, but the second shot hit home and the facehugger jerked in the air, falling flat on its back. When it continued to thrash, I popped it once more.

Finally, it went still and its legs curled inward.

I let out my breath in a shuddering gasp. For a second I just stood over it, panting. When I was certain it was dead, I fell back into a sitting position, staring at the dead thing in front of me.

A strange sense of euphoria swept over me. I had done it. I had lived through this. I was—_proud_. I'd done exactly as Simmons had said—I'd gotten out on my own, and I'd killed the thing that was trying to—no I didn't want to think about_ that_.

But I had _done it_. I was alive.

I choked out something between a sob and a laugh, and it quickly turned into quiet laughter. It was bittersweet, but I was full of false bravado now. I got to my feet and grinned stupidly.

"Ha—fucking—I fucking did it. I did it!" I panted.

My victory was short lived. Another egg started to open and I gasped and whirled around, searching frantically for the source of the sound. I spotted it when the little flaps were starting to peel back. Once again my breath hitched and I ran over to it, firing a couple rounds into the thing. This time I knew not to lock my elbows: my arms still ached from the other shots I'd fired.

It didn't move and I sighed in relief.

But more started to hatch, one after the other.

Panic rose in my chest again and I ran to each egg in turn, firing into them until the gun was no longer loaded, then I used the butt of the gun to bash any remaining eggs open. My hands and parts of my face stung, but I just wiped them on my jacket and ignored the pain. No time to dwell on it.

When the gun started to _melt_, I tossed it away with confused revulsion and it clattered against a wall. For a few moments I thought that I was done for, but nothing moved. No sounds, just that incessant drip.

I waited what seemed to be forever, crouched on my knees, but there was nothing.

Somehow I'd killed them all.

Relief washed over me and I fell back against a crust-covered wall, sliding down into another sitting position. This was not the kind of stress I needed—it should have just been homework and boys and sports—now it was _surviving an alien invasion_.

Panting, I lifted my hand to wipe slime from my face, but I noted the redness of blood on my palms and fingers and I remembered, with acute clarity, rummaging through Simmons' dead body. Disgust contorted my features and I whimpered quietly, brushing it off on the floor and my pants, desperate to get the blood from my hands.

The blood didn't immediately clean away, I almost started crying. I somehow managed to control of myself and just gave up.

They were clean enough, I supposed and moved on. I brushed the slime from my face and my neck and I slicked it from my hair, shaking my hands and trying to ignore the way my skin crawled. At some point I decided I was as clean as I was going to get and I pulled a spare hair-tie from my jacket pocket, quickly tying up my hair so it was off my neck and out of my face.

What I needed now was a way off this fucking ship.

The dim light was enough for me to get my bearings, but not much else. I searched for a doorway or something, but with the walls decorated in the same weird substance that had held me captive, it was hard to see anything. It was like an optical illusion.

I spun around and around, panic rising in my chest. Simmons had told me not to, but I couldn't help it. It was all overwhelming—I was a junior in high school, not an army sergeant.

Screeches in the distance made me freeze.

Shit—the _gunshots_. The big ones were sure to come and investigate! I cursed my lack of foresight and searched harder for a corridor until I finally found one and tumbled down the hallway. From there I found a tiny little cubby, like a vent or something, and I wedged myself as deep as I could and curled into a ball. I hid my face in my knees and waited.

Hissing shadows shot passed several heartbeats later and I held my breath, not daring to look out from my little ball. Things could feel it when you stared at them, I was certain. I couldn't mess this up, not after my little victory.

They ran past and I waited.

And waited.


	5. Wicked Design

**Hello readers! **

**One of my longer chapters so far. I can't promise they'll all be 4k words but one can hope haha.**

**I'd like to give a special thanks to my buddy Citrine Nebulae for helping me get this chapter edited into perfection! If you get the chance, head over to her profile and take a look at the story we worked on together! It's called Breathless and its a fanfic of a fanfic haha.**

**Next chapter is due next Wednesday! Until then, here's the moment you've all been waiting for!**

**~ Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Four<p>

Wicked Design

It seemed like forever that I was huddled in that little vent, waiting. My legs were starting to cramp and I really needed to stretch my back.

At first I'd counted to ten, but chickened out. Then I'd counted to thirty and yet again couldn't bring myself to leave, even though I hadn't heard a single peep from anything since the big monsters had passed.

After five minutes of absolute silence, I finally crawled out from my hiding spot. I glanced about, making sure the coast was clear, then wiggled out and slowly stood up.

Well, somehow I'd avoided dying, now I just had to get out.

First, I wanted to find my way back to that other chamber and see if I couldn't find any more weapons, but I had a difficult time finding the corridor again. I searched and backtracked until I found the entrance to the room and I peered inside.

Empty, except for the bodies on the wall and the tattered eggs.

I took in a deep breath and stepped inside, moving slower than I probably should have in favor for silence. There were plenty of military personnel, so I was certain I would have at least some weapons to choose from. Some sort of gun was the obvious choice, but I didn't want the whole ship bearing down on me after broadcasting my location.

Somehow, I was pretty sure there weren't enough bullets to take care of all of them. Especially when they seemed to have an armored exoskeleton.

Something else, then. But what?

Without really knowing what I was looking for, I started pulling at the crust gluing people to the wall, searching through their affects and trying to figure out what I needed. Most of them actually seemed pretty empty-handed, like they had used all their weapons before being taken and lost them.

I couldn't even find a tactical knife or anything!

Maybe I'd just gotten lucky with Simmons' pistol.

However, I managed to come across one of the men's radio. I didn't think it would work, but it reminded me of something. I stared at it for a second, then realized what it was. Phones. I patted myself down to see if I had my phone in my pockets still, and it was right there in the back pocket of my jeans. Though surprised, it was a pleasant feeling. There was large crack right through the center, but that seemed the extent of the damage.

I took a breath and ticked my head to the side. "Everything's coming up Milhouse."

A seed of hope planted itself in my chest and I fumbled to start up the phone, rapidly pressing the little button at the top. "Come on, come on," I muttered, waiting for the black screen to come to life. It finally brightened, bringing up the stock sunset picture that was my unlock screen. My hands shook as I unlocked it, but I managed to bring up the main screen.

I sighed with relief and pulled up the phonebook, but when I punched in 9-1-1, I got nothing. I groaned in frustration and hit the phone once, then stared at the little "no signal" symbol. Would this horrendous night be complete without a phone with no signal?

Of course not.

"Why would my phone get a fucking signal in an alien spaceship?" I hissed sarcastically to myself, tossing my hand up in frustration.

That would way too _easy. _

There were a few things I wanted to do: throw a tantrum that would make a two-year-old envious; toss the phone across the room; sob grossly; and kick a puppy. I could really do none of those things and it wouldn't get me anywhere but caught anyway. Breaking the phone was out of the question because then I would be out one phone. And I liked my phone.

Besides, what if I managed to wander somewhere and pick up a signal?

Instead I just sat down on the ground and glowered at the cell phone in my hand, trying to mentally will it into getting reception.

Needless to say it didn't work.

What would I say even if I did have reception? "Yes excuse me I'm somewhere in the national park with the junior class from high school despite being told not to be. Yeah that is correct, and we were abducted by aliens so please send help."

Yeah ok they would totally believe me.

They would totally send help to "somewhere in the national park."

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

A crack echoed through the little room and I started, violently pulled from my own thoughts. What was I thinking, sitting in the middle of this room and pouting? There were demon aliens out there, ready to eat me!

The man to the side of my classmate jerked and groaned. The crack had been his ribcage. I suppressed a scream, scrambled up to my feet, and crouched into some semblance of a battle stance before I realized it was just a guy. I watched with fascinated horror as his body jerked and bucked and a tiny little slick head poked out from his chest.

At least this time I didn't throw up and pass out.

Another body across the room from me started to jerk—but this time the guy woke up. He started to scream and I whirled around, backing up a pace before the tiny chestburster behind me screeched. I gasped and surged forward, intending to flee.

Something pulled me back and I looked down at my phone, clutched in my fingers. Evidence. I would need evidence if I was going to get _anyone_ to come help.

And what was I running from, anyway?

_Baby aliens_?

I'd taken on some sort of spider impregnation machine and came out on top and now I was going to run from a newborn?

Sure a newborn with _teeth_ but damn what was I thinking?

My fingers tightened around the phone and I fumbled with the lock screen until I managed to unlock it. My wallpaper—a picture of our black lab Atlas—flashed up for a second while I found the camera option.

Just a few pictures. Just enough to make people believe. Then I was gone.

Adrenaline was still fresh in my veins and my past successes had elicited much courage. I turned back around after pulling up the camera and looked for the chestbursters, trying to catch them before they scrambled off.

One was barely hanging out of the cavity it had created and I snapped the picture, but cursed when it moved and caused me to get nothing but a big blurry photo of nothing important.

"Dammit hold still," I muttered, looking for the second one.

It was already gone.

"Shit," I hissed through clenched teeth, turning this way and that. Fine—I would get the other stuff on camera. On video. I turned and set the record function, sweeping over the most intact eggs, then the dead facehuggers. Though it made me a little sick to my stomach, I took some footage of the dead people as well.

Taking a breath, I flipped the camera to look at me. "My name is Nichole Shain. I'm 17 years old and attend Estes Park High. My friends and I—wandered into the Rocky Mountain National Park to take pictures of the spaceship we heard had landed in the woods."

For a moment I had to pause and gather my thoughts. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. "We found it, but we were grabbed by some weird aliens and trapped in here. I—I was separated and strung up like—like these people behind me." I turned the camera to sweep over them again. "I got out and—I'm going to find a way off the ship to get help."

Despite the situation I felt completely out of my element talking into the camera like that. If I didn't have better self-control, I would have deleted the footage and started over. But I didn't have time. The first take was going to have to do.

Just a bit more footage.

"These are some of the people in the room with me. The others are somewhere else. I came here with my friends Jess Covely and Michelle Love, but there were more from my class here" I said, though my face was off-camera now, panning the dead facehuggers.

Imagine this showing up on the internet as some found-footage.

Under different circumstances I would have felt like I was in the movies. But now I just felt like I was in hell.

I started explaining the facehugger thing by getting some footage of someone with one still attached, but the sound of bones cracking pulled me away. Another chestburster? This person—a woman this time—woke up like the other guy and started to cry for help. She locked eyes with me for a brief moment and I felt my heart slip into my stomach.

"What's—what's happening!" she grunted, curling in as far as the crust allowed. "It—it hurts!"

Though I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, it didn't work. "I—I'm so sorry." It was the only thing I could utter before her body bucked and blood sprayed the air. I wasn't even sure if she'd heard.

But I knew that my camera was still rolling. I gasped and shut off the feed.

All I could do was stare, horrified, as the little alien peered around with its sightless head. My mouth fell agape and I took a step back when it seemed to look directly at me.

Then it hissed.

No way it would attack, I thought. It was just a tiny little _baby_. It would just scuttle away to wherever they go to grow up. If I really believed that, though, why were my hands shaking?

Why was I even still _here_, cataloguing the whole thing? I should be _running_. Should be trying my best to get off the _ship_! Not taking up precious time recording this ordeal. Why had I thought that had been a good idea? Why had I thought that I would have plenty of time to document everything?

Evidence—I would _need_ it. I knew that in my heart of heart of hearts. And when it came down to it, I was _scared_. The rest of the ship was a mystery. This room was _safe_. I had destroyed the eggs, I wasn't particularly threatened by the chestbursters. . . until now. I hadn't even stopped to think that the big ones would come back to clear the room for new arrivals.

This had been the perfect excuse to _not_ go exploring this hellish ship and I had jumped on it.

Like a fucking coward.

The stupid baby alien surprised me. It slithered from its crater and then squiggled its little ass _right for me_, teeth bared and tail lashing.

"How are you _moving_!" I shouted, stumbling backwards in my surprise and falling over. I dropped my phone next to me in my fright and looked for something to protect myself with—but could find nothing.

When I turned back, the tiny little snake-thing, with it's equally tiny little nub-limbs, launched itself through the air toward me.

I stifled a screech behind clenched teeth and, without thinking, lifted my hands to snatch it straight out of the air like I would a soccer ball. I caught it and held it back, making it screech and writhe with frustration. It made it hard to hang on to the stupid thing, and its tail lashed around, the small little spike at the end tearing a gouge in my jacket.

Needle-sharp teeth dug deep into the webbing between my thumb and finger, ripping a strangled yelp of pain from my lips. I jerked my hand back with a snarl, tearing my hand free. Pain made tears well in my eyes. "You little shit!"

Its response was another screech and I chucked the hideous thing across the room. It smacked against the wall with a dull thud and blood splattered the surface.

The thing tumbled to the floor and didn't move.

Apparently they weren't very sturdy straight out of the "womb".

I sucked in my breath heavily, cradling my bitten hand against my chest. It was bleeding a lot more than I would have liked and I could feel the blood running down my arms underneath the sleeves of my jacket. It hurt a lot, but not unlike the pain caused by a cat bite.

Wait was this going to get me sick?

Was I going to get _space AIDS_ from its saliva?

No time to dwell on that, or even dress the wound: I heard a hiss that sent shivers down my spine. With a sharp twist of my neck I looked up and saw one of the big ones hanging from the ceiling. I wouldn't have even noticed it if it hadn't moved because it blended in perfectly with the "decorations."

I backpedaled on the ground and tried to find something to use to protect myself with. Instead, I bumped into the heavy hiking boots of the person above me.

Good enough?

I twisted my torso and tugged at one of the boots until it came free and scrambled to my feet, holding the boot up. It was poised to strike, though I wasn't particularly sure how well it was going to fare against the big insect-like alien.

Teeth bared, the alien crawled down the wall and stalked toward me, head sweeping this way and that. I wondered briefly if it could see the carnage in the room.

The carnage _I_ had caused.

If it could, it was _not_ going to be very happy with me.

And it certainly was not. Jaws slightly parted, it bunched its muscles and started to advance quicker. Its tail lashed behind it and I watched it carefully—every tiny little flex, how the muscles in its back legs coiled to leap. . . . When it did, I was ready. It jumped with its front claws extended and I squealed as I side-stepped out of the way just enough to maneuver myself, holding the boot with two hands, to swing wildly at the thing's head.

It barely even budged, its head only jerking slightly. Its lip twitched in irritation.

Eyes wide, I back pedaled and lifted the shoe again. This was pointless. I had a fucking _boot_. What did I think was going to happen? I was going to die _right here_ because I was an idiot. Because I'd waited too long to get the hell out of Dodge.

Snarling, the beast turned and lunged forward. I readied to get out of the way, but it jerked to a stop and screeched in surprise. Blood oozed from a wound in its head, dripping. I heard something like metal against hard chitin, but I still didn't see what would do that. No blade—no nothing. Just. . . empty air and one dead alien.

What the _fuck_.

I figured these things didn't just spontaneously start bleeding and die.

A chittering sound. The crackle of electricity. I froze where I stood, shoe lifted in one hand, other hand slick with my own blood, and watched that alien as it stood there, black against black. Its lips twitched one last time, then went slack and fell to the floor. Behind it, the air shimmered and rippled like water. Something large fluidly appeared before me with an electrical crackle. My breath caught and I watched as something came fully to life before my eyes. It wasn't _anything_ like the aliens that had taken me.

And it was _big_.

Like Arnold Schwarzenegger big. Maybe even bigger. The thing looked like it was completely comprised of muscle and sinew. By the shape and contours of its body, I had to wager a guess at it being a male, but what did I know about alien physiology? Black, dreadlock-like hair fell neatly behind its head, and its face was obscured by an expressionless—though somewhat angry-looking—mask.

A wicked-looking blade protruded from his wrist gauntlet. My heartbeat sounded like thunder in my ears and I was shaking slightly, terrified and full of adrenaline. For a moment I didn't dare breathe.

It—or he, or whatever, it certainly _looked_ male—wore very little armor except over his thighs, shins, and wrists. He looked like he didn't need even _that_ much armor. Like he was Superman and his muscles would just deflect any blows aimed in his general direction. Other than those pieces and something that looked like an armored loincloth, his pale green skin was covered with nothing but a wire mesh over his torso.

This—was _this_ the owner of the ship? It looked way more sentient than the spider-serpents that had kidnapped me. Maybe I was just assuming that because of the humanoid physique. Killing that big ugly alien though—that completely debunked the idea that they were attack dogs.

Why would he kill his own attack dog?

After a brief second where we just stared at each other, he took a slow, calculated step toward me and the blade on his wrist retracted, making me jump. I finally let go of the breath I'd been holding in a surprised gasp and, without thinking, hurled the shoe in my hand at him.

Oh yeah. _Great _idea.

With stunning adroitness, he snatched it out of the air. He didn't even flinch at all and that just made my heart drop all the way to the floor. What possible outcome would that have brought me to?

He looked at the boot that I'd thrown at him, tilted his head, and then looked back at me. His head cocked in the other direction and he made that strange rattling sound again. My breath started to come in little gasps.

Thin red beams of light buzzed to life and tracked across the ground, sweeping until they came up to my chest. I gasped and pressed myself as flat against the wall as I could.

I'd seen enough hitman movies to know a sniper bead when I saw one.

I counted three red lines instead of one, but I knew it was a target. A big, red, triangle-shaped target stuck to my chest.

The boot thumped to the ground when he dropped it. For a few heartbeats that stretched out to feel like hours, he just stared at me. I wished I could see an expression, understand what he was thinking. Something mounted on his shoulder turned to face me. A gun? Was this how I was going to die? I swallowed hard and my muscles tensed, ready to fling myself out of the shot.

After seemingly forever, he shifted his weight and glanced across the room. The laser targets swept across the devastation that I had wrought on the eggs. I wondered briefly if that was going to get me in more trouble with him, but instead he just rumbled something I couldn't comprehend. Was—was he _impressed_? I moved ever so slightly and that target arched to my chest again, making me freeze. However, it was only for another few seconds. The alien turned away from me with a derisive snort, red beams of light flickering out.

He—he wasn't going to kill me! I almost went weak with relief but managed not to.

I held my breath and watched him as he moved. It was as if every tiny movement he made animated his whole body, even the thick strands of braids arched with a sort of grace as he turned. I caught the glint of metal bands around each dreadlock, like jewelry.

Was I not a threat? Was I not what he was looking for? Had he not killed me because I'd done some damage to the eggs and the little creatures?

Did that make us on the same side?

I had to assume it was more the former than any of the latter, but maybe all of the above. I was most certain that I was no threat to this giant alien body builder. He was three heads taller than me and probably weighed triple my weight.

There was no way I'd put up much of a fight at all if he came at me.

I watched him for a second, trying to decide what to do. Before he turned the corner, his body melted out of view. Camouflage? A cloaking device?

Already he had proved uninterested in killing me, but would I have to worry about him later? Would we meet again while I was trying to get out? Wait—would he possibly know how to get off of this stupid ship? Should I have asked him?

That was a thought I had to brush off right away. Why would he want to help me?

Would he even be able to _understand_ me?

After watching the space he had disappeared from for a moment, I started to relax again. I picked up my phone and pocketed it. I briefly considered prying more people lose from the wall, but everyone who wasn't being face-hugged was already dead.

Well, I didn't really believe that. Some of the people looked like they were just unconscious. But I didn't want to pry them loose and have them running around with me only to convulse and birth one of the hideous babies. It was easier to assume they were all dead.

But I didn't really want to be alone either.

Still, Simmons had told me not to stop for anyone. I'd already broken his rule to stop and film everything. Should I really break more of his rules?

And my possible means of escape was walking away as I stood there, trying to pick a choice.

For the fiftieth time I didn't move, indecisive and unsure. I took a breath and wandered over to the other teenager in the room. He looked okay. I hadn't noticed a facehugger on him in my early inspections. I tried to wake him by shaking his shoulders, lightly slapping his face, but he was out. Upon further inspection I noticed a big wound on his head.

Maybe he was in a coma.

Was I really going to be alone on this ship?

No. No I knew what to do. I had to hurry the fuck up, and it had taken longer than it should have to come to that conclusion, but there was at least _one_ thing on this ship that hadn't tried to kill me.

That wasn't stuck to a wall and possibly infected.

I took a breath, steeled my nerves, and then turned and jogged to the exit. He had turned invisible, but I knew which direction he'd gone and from what I'd seen of this ship, it was a pretty straight-forward path out of this room. I just had to catch up to him. It was really my only hope at getting out of here, anyway. I tried to walk as quietly and quickly as I could, listening for his footsteps. For any of those sounds he had made.

If there was one thing I knew, this thing looked dangerous.

But he also looked _strong_.

Me? I was _not_ strong. My best bet was to follow this thing around and hope he didn't try to kill me when he found me stalking him. I could ride in his wake and maybe get out alive.


	6. Open Sore

**Hello readers! **

**Sorry I didn't put this up earlier, I've been in a lot of pain these past couple of days (tooth pain, nothing serious but still hella awful) and so I got a little bit behind with editing. You'll also have to forgive me if there are still some typos or something, I did my best but... so much pain. **

**Next chapter is due Monday. See you all then!**

**~Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Five<p>

Open Sore

The ship was more of a maze than I had first guessed. Sure, that first hallway had stretched straight for several yards, but then the path splintered. I was terrified that I had lost my unwitting escort so soon. That I had been unsure for too long and lost my chance at a semi-safe escape from this hell hole of a spaceship.

I stilled my breath and listened for footsteps, for that strange rattling noise he made. Anything that would let me know what direction he had gone in.

Despair settled in my chest like a stone when I couldn't glean a single clue from the silence.

"No. . . no," I muttered, spinning around once. My hands started to tremble and I had to fight back the tears threatening to spill. My voice was a whisper when I spoke. Even though it was just to myself, I felt I would go crazy if I didn't say anything at all. "Come back, give me something—anything."

The semi-darkness was worse than actual darkness. I ran my bitten hand through my ponytail. I'd managed to stop the bleeding, but now I had a big brownish stain on the side of my jacket where I'd held my hand against it. It still itched, but I ignored the feeling and let it scab over.

I was about to give up, but seconds later, though, I heard it.

A screech.

My whole body twisted, throwing myself—literally—to the ground as if to avoid an unseen attack. This must have been what they called a knee-jerk reaction.

The screech was followed by a roar and I was on my feet again in an instant. I couldn't let opportunity slip through my fingers this time. My blind luck was bound to run out some time. I needed to start relying on myself, my own ability to make decisions and get out of this.

Or, rather, my own ability to silently follow some big alien around and hopefully not get caught by him _or_ the big black serpents roaming the place.

There was a fight—that much I could tell. My feet carried me without thinking through the winding hallway, the sounds getting closer. Multiple serpent-aliens. Just the one humanoid one. What was he doing here? Cleaning house? Was this an infestation on his ship or something? Some sort of alien pest control?

The hallway suddenly opened up into some sort of central hub. I stopped short and skidded a ways on some slick slime, almost falling on my ass. My arms wind-milled to keep me upright and I stumbled backwards into the hallway, trying to hide.

Two serpents. One Mr. Universe contestant. Though to be fair his physique was much more tasteful than those very vascular body builders.

He had one by the throat, wrist blade held high and ready to strike. The thing's tail lashed violently, scraping against the armored shoulder-mounted gun he had. Before it could do much else, he plunged the long, serrated blade up through the bottom of its head. It hissed and fell flat.

Number Two was pinned to the wall by a long spear. It thrashed and hissed, a second set of jaws extending from inside its main mouth. A shudder went up my spine.

It didn't seem like it was going anywhere, though.

I wished suddenly that I had been able to witness the whole fight. Like I needed to see exactly what the alien—that I was betting my life on—could do. What he was capable of handling.

He walked slowly up to the pinned alien, as if he had all the time in the world. The thing hissed and lashed out at him with its long, deadly tail. It looked as though the masked alien had gotten a few good nicks himself: vivid green blood oozed from a shallow slash on his left triceps, and another on his chest. If the wounds bothered him at all, he didn't show it.

When he got close, he caught the swinging tail with the deftness he'd shown earlier, when I'd thrown the boot. Not one of my. . . finer moments in life. He swung with his weapon and the barbed tip of the tail was sliced clean off. The alien screeched, then was shut down by a blade to the face.

From where I crouched around the corner, I could see him yank his spear free of the wall and the black creature slumped to the floor. The blade from his arm gauntlet retracted with a metallic hiss and with another, similar sound, the spear collapsed—kind of like the toy light saber my brother use to play with all of the time, but from both ends.

He considered the two dead aliens, then turned toward my hiding spot. I quickly ducked further behind the wall and held my breath, hoping that he hadn't seen me. Though hiding, I could still hear that little chittering sound that he made.

Had he seen me?

I waited a bit before I peeked out from my makeshift hiding place and let my breath out. Slowly, I leaned so that only half of my face was poking out from the wall. His back was to me now, his form receding into the dark tunnel on the other side of the room. After a few more steps from him, I was on my feet, crouching low and trailing after him.

This time he didn't go stealth. I paused for a moment to get a closer look at the serpents now that they were dead, and like I had observed earlier, they had no eyes. No visible ones, anyway. Maybe that was why he didn't turn on the cloak.

What good would it do when your opponents didn't see, anyway?

I left that little room and trotted after him, sticking close to the walls and kept crouched down. Even though the ship was a little too warm for the jacket I was wearing, I didn't want to take it off because the shirt under it was too light. At least my dark green jacket would kind of keep me hidden. I put up the hood as well, to hide my red hair.

It made me feel even warmer, but I would need all the help I could get to move silently and unseen through the hallways.

If he ever noticed me following him, he didn't let it show. Of course I just thought that I was doing some real spy stuff. I even managed to follow him for maybe seven minutes straight, always ten paces behind him, before I caught him glancing back ever so slightly. He did it from time to time, making me begin to wonder if he _was _aware, but didn't care.

Still, I would always duck behind something and hide when I could, and at one point time I thought I actually heard something akin to amused little clicks coming from him. He moved through the dark corridors with practiced ease, even without a light, so I figured his mask probably helped him see.

Me? Not so much.

Several times I almost tripped and ate it, but my center of gravity was pretty sturdy and I always managed to keep my footing. Other times I thought for sure I had lost my unwitting tour guide, but I'd always round a corner and find him there, crouched down and examining some slime like it was terribly interesting.

*:･ﾟ✧

Once more I fell behind.

Panic bloomed in my chest, but the sound of a scuffle urged me onwards. He was being attacked by another pest. I hid, crouched by the floor, and watched him square off with the creature, hands away from his side and claws spread out. I knew he had that gun, but I didn't see him use it.

Instead he favored that giant blade from his gauntlet, circling the big beast. There was something a little different about this one. It wasn't so black, more of a muddy brown. The big, spike-like protrusions on its back weren't quite so pronounced as the others that I'd seen, and it seemed almost _wary_ to get into a fight with my escort.

I could have sworn it was smaller than usual, too. Where there different types of these aliens here? Maybe this one wasn't supposed to be a fighter—maybe it was just a worker.

Weren't there beehives like that?

Before I could study this smaller alien more, the bigger of the two aliens made a move. He lunged and the serpent hissed, meeting him half-way after a bit of hesitation. They grappled, but it was dispatched easily with a single slice from my escort's blade.

The ground hissed where it landed, and I found that peculiar. Just like when the gun I'd used earlier had melted, the ground seemed to melt away a little bit.

Curious.

Lost in thought, I almost missed the sharp growl from the across the room. I'd been staring at the dead serpent, trying to figure out the smoke and hissing coming from the ground. The growl had come from my escort, but his back was to me by the time I looked up and was moving out.

I was beginning to believe he _did_ know I was following him. Maybe that he even _wanted_ me to.

But that was crazy. There was probably a better explanation than that.

When he headed down the hallway again, I trudged after him. I still made sure to keep at least ten steps behind him, sometimes even further. However, if I was _too_ far behind I couldn't see him in the darkness, and I didn't want to lose him again.

Where was he even going? Something told me it certainly wasn't _out_ of the ship.

It seemed more like he was _hunting_ these things down, the way he reacted every time we heard a screech in the distance. The way he examined the fresh trails of slime and checked a map he could project from his wrist—his other wrist, not the one with the blade.

Holograms. Should have expected that from an alien race.

He always made a point of ignoring me, though, even if he had stopped to let me catch up. I was beginning to figure that was what he was doing if I got lost, because every now and again I'd catch him just standing there, head slightly inclined in the direction I was coming. He always turned a little too quickly, making me think I'd imagined it. I could have sworn he was leading me intentionally, but that didn't make any sense at all.

Then I rounded a corner and he was gone.

Just gone—disappeared into thin air.

Maybe he really _hadn't_ noticed I'd been following him, but had been suspicious. Maybe finally he had gotten wise and turned invisible. I whirled around to look and checked some of the other corridors, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Shit—shit shit," I whispered, running my hand through my soggy, sticky ponytail. Now I was alone. Now I was going to have to find my way out on my own.

And fend off those things by myself, somehow.

I took a few deep, steadying breaths, then decided that I needed to leave. Cut my loses and just get out. Plan B hadn't worked, so it was back to Plan A—wander aimlessly and try to get out of the ship as fast as I could. My escort had caught me and decided it didn't want to be my escort anymore. It left me wallowing in dread as the dark walls seemed to close in, but I fought not to drown.

The walls had strange, glowing marks high up. They only gave off a little bit of light, but it was enough to keep me from being cast in total darkness. It gave my eyes something to adjust to. I steeled my nerves, then headed down the hallway.

*:･ﾟ✧

Eventually I stumbled into another egg chamber.

At first the room had been so dark I couldn't see, but then I almost tripped over one of the eggs. I caught myself and looked around, opening my eyes wider to try to absorb any ambient light. Slime had caked over the strange lights and made it hard, but eventually abstract shadows became more defined.

It was just like before—people plastered to the wall. Open eggs. Dead facehuggers. Holes in chests. That particular sight still made me shudder, but I would just try to put it deep within the vaults of my mind where I could forget about it. There were more military people in this room. The rest seemed to be the missing hikers and the one park ranger that had been stolen. And there was a cop.

My chance at a weapon!

After having found little on the military people earlier, I decided to try the cop instead and completely ignored the others. What did they carry? The baton? Night stick? I didn't know what it was called, but I knew what it looked like. It might not have the reach of a sword or something, but it was better than nothing and quieter than a gun.

And I found it.

It took a lot of looking, a lot of pulling at crusty slime, but I found it. At one point I had to pause and preform the "ew this is so nasty get it off me" dance—complete with stomping feet and flailing wrists—when some unpleasantness from the cop's wound got on my hand, but I found it.

Though I was skeptical at first, I was glad to see that it worked just like I imagined—just a simple flick of the wrist and the baton extended fully—probably twenty inches, maybe more. A few swings to get used to the weight, and I felt like I was ten times more prepared for a fight than I had been moments ago. Though it felt sturdy and heavy in my hand, I still wasn't sure how well it would do against some sort of biomechanical alien insect, but again it was better than nothing.

And it was not a moment too soon.

I heard the hissing before I saw anything. I almost missed it, but I was so keyed up that every sound seemed amplified, every sound made me jump. I backed up until I was against a wall free of a body and lifted the baton in one hand. For a brief, agonizing moment, I just waited.

Something dripped on my shoulder and I looked up to see a wicked set of chrome-colored fangs a few feet above me.

The scream ripped from my throat before I could stop it and I pushed from the wall, swinging the baton blindly. The monster leaped down from the wall, tail lashing behind it and teeth bared at me. I held the baton up with one hand like a switch and watched, waiting—when it leaped, I took a slight step out of the way and swung, smacking it right in the face. The collision made a satisfying sound, and the creature's head dipped with the blow. The thing let out a surprised shriek and backed away.

A _much_ better result than when I'd used that stupid boot.

I choked out a cry of victory and lifted my new weapon to strike it again, but its tail lashed out and knocked me flat on my back. I barely had enough time to roll out of the way before it was landing where I had been. Had I not moved, it probably would have landed right on top of me and then eaten my face off.

There wasn't enough time to get on my feet, though. I had to keep rolling as that tail stabbed into the ground after me, tearing the arm of my jacket and slicing a little ribbon in the flesh of my shoulder. I grit my teeth against the pain and then rolled to my feet.

It was right on top of me already and shunted into me, sending me tumbling. The baton fell from my hand and I scrabbled across the ground for it, barely pulling it back into my palm before claws raked down my shoulder blade. I cried out in pain turned around, swinging. Solid steel against chitin made that same satisfying _thwack_ and the beast reeled.

This time, though, it recovered quicker. It wasn't surprised by the blow, and it lashed out in kind, smacking me with a strong claw. It was strong enough to splay me out on the ground again, the baton once more dropped due to surprise. This time I could not get to it before the thing was on me, pinning me to the ground, teeth bared. Though I struggled, it was far too strong for me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the thing's tail lifting up and coiling, poising to pierce through me. Tears threatened to fall again and I choked out a helpless sob.

The creature hissed, then opened its mouth in a strangled war cry of a screech. Just as it started to strike, though, it fell still and the tail jerked to a stop. It didn't remove its weight from atop me, but it did twist its cylindrical head around to see what had grabbed its tail. Then, just like before, that big creature melted into view, rattling quietly while one hand held the creature's tail.

The serpentine alien hissed and tried to turn to grab him, but he heaved the thing through the air with a mighty swing, tossing it into a wall. Before it could recover, he pulled a spear from its hiding place, extended it with a flourish, then thrust it through the skull. It could only let out a strangled screech before it fell to the ground. And it didn't get back up.

Head shots seemed to be the most effective.

Just like a zombie, I noted.

I looked up at him and he turned his head slightly to look at me, cocking it to the side with a rattle of his dreadlocks. We watched either for a second while I tried to get control of my breathing and emotions. I managed to sit up and I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to keep from falling apart. I was shaking so badly I thought for sure all of my bits were just going to shake loose and I would tumble into a million pieces—there was no doubt in my mind that the serpent-thing was going to kill me.

How long had my unwitting escort been there? Had he turned the tables and been stalking me instead, silently watching? I had turned down so many random corridors to get to this one room—surely with a ship of this size it was next to impossible to just happen upon him, right? He'd been following me, surely he'd—he'd. . . .

My eyes widened as I started to realize what had happened, what he had done. Finally my breathing had returned almost to normal and I suppressed my fear, if only for a little bit, and replaced it instead with anger. Anger was easier to deal with. It was familiar.

Before I could think better of it, I scrambled up to my feet and lifted my hand to point an accusing finger at the alien. "You used me as _bait_?" I demanded, glowering at him.

He turned to face me full on and I quailed, realizing just how big a mistake that was. So close to him I realized exactly how giant he was. He made me feel so tiny—he had to be eight feet tall, maybe three hundred pounds. All of it muscle.

"I mean—whatever that's fine," I muttered, turning my gaze away from him and assuming a less threatening posture. What was I doing, anyway? Talking to an alien.

It wasn't like he could understand me. For all he knew I was insulting his mother.

When he took another step toward me I looked up sharply, afraid that he was going to strike. I would have moved backwards more, but there was a wall there that stopped me. My fear flared and I lifted my hands as if to protect myself from him, but he just put a hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me out of the way—though to be fair his "gentle" was still a little rough for my standards and I stumbled forward.

A protest died in my throat and I turned, watching him.

He leaned down and picked up the baton I'd pilfered from the police man and held it out to me. "Bait?" my voice echoed to me.

My voice—not his. Was he recording everything? But why? Just so he could play clips like this? I suppose it me a little sense. What could the chances possibly be that he could speak _any_ of the languages on Earth, let alone the _exact_ language that I spoke? It didn't seem probable. Or even possible.

"You—you understand me?" I asked, surprised.

He looked at me a moment, then made a gruff sound and dipped his head once.

That caught me by surprise. I hadn't expected him to be able to understand me, and I couldn't imagine how he could. He wasn't new to this planet, that seemed certain now. Unless he had some sort of futuristic translating device, but still someone would have had to program it for English, right?

I opened my mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out so I closed it again. He filled the silence by playing my voice back at me once more, and he thrust the baton at me with a little more authority this time. I imagined the low chittering sound he made now was in irritation and I realized he was asking me a question.

"Bait?"

He _wanted_ me to be his bait. To help him in his little pest control endeavors. Me—the tasty, squishy human. It made sense, but I didn't think I was happy with it.

At the very least he was letting me stay armed. The baton wasn't as effective as his sharp stabby weapons, but it was something to protect myself with. It wasn't like I was going to be any real fighting, and it had done _okay_ with this alien he'd just killed.

It wasn't like he could trust me with a real weapon, and I kind of understood that. He had to look out for his own skin, too. How did he know I wasn't going to just turn around stab him with his own weapon? I _wouldn't_, of course, because that would be suicide. But _he_ didn't know that, so he wasn't about to give me something that could do any real damage to him.

Still, I had to consider my options. Stick around and be this things bait and maybe have a shot at living, piss him off by not accepting and get killed, or not piss him off by not accepting and then just get killed because I was on my own anyway.

Stick with this alien and have a shot at living, or be left alone with the others.

The monster you knew was better than the monster you didn't know.

Sighing, I took the baton and looked up at him. No time to be indecisive. It was better than being on my own. I nodded and set my jaw. "Bait."


	7. Hard to Number

**Hello readers!**

**I guess I lied when I said not every chapter could be 4k words haha.**

**Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm coming up with a sort of soundtrack for this story, so if you have song suggestions feel free to send me some and I'll give you a shout-out if I like the song you suggested! **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Six<p>

Hard to Number

In the back of my mind I knew this might not end well for me. I was very familiar with bait: my uncle would often take me and my mom fishing when I was little, and I still occasionally went with her during the nicer parts of the year.

Sometimes we used live bait.

Sometimes the bait was eaten.

Sometimes it was just chomped in half and left on the line, wriggling and trying to figure out what was going on.

With that thought lodged deep in my mind, it made this absolutely terrifying.

My escort usually could not be seen. I could hear him behind me, but only barely and only if I listened _really_ hard for the sound of his footfalls. For being so huge, he really could be silent as the night. Most of the time I felt like I was alone, fending for myself.

It seemed, though, whenever I started to verge on panic, he would catch up and bump my shoulder, as if reminding me he was there. Even though he was a little rough, it always served to calm me down and I felt as if he was doing it for that very purpose. He probably didn't want me having a panic attack in the middle of his job.

I didn't particularly want to have a panic attack in the middle of this whole thing, either.

At first it took some time for me to shake the need to be stealthy. I was being bait. There was no need for stealth. He _wanted_ me to draw them out.

That didn't mean I was going to start making a bunch of noise, but I walked with my back a little straighter and I even took out my phone to use the flashlight function to see better in the dark. It lit my path, and it made me feel a little safer by penetrating the dark and illuminating the corners of the ship I couldn't see on my own.

The baton gave me a certain sort of comfort, but not a lot.

We walked in never ending silence, but questions burned inside me for the alien. He could understand me, but I didn't know if he would be able to answer me with any sort of clarity. I wasn't sure how comfortable I was to be able to strum up conversation with him, anyway.

Navigating was difficult. I had no idea where I was going, so I had to rely on my escort's rough shoves in the right direction. Once, when I took a wrong turn too fast, he had to correct me by grabbing my arm and whirling me around in the opposite direction, reprimanding me with a sharp trill. It almost sent me sprawling to the floor, but my balance held true.

"Watch it you meat head!" I had barked at him. I'd regretted it as soon as it was out of my mouth, but he didn't chide me or strike back.

Probably because he knew he'd just break me.

I didn't know where he was leading me, but eventually he roughly shoved me into a dark room and turned off his cloak. I looked around the room with my phone's flashlight. It was draining the battery quick, though, so I tried to only use it in short bursts.

Another egg room. Far as I could tell, though, it was empty. Waiting for new victims to be strung up on the wall and impregnated.

_Impregnated_. The word sent shivers down my spine.

I turned a questioning gaze to him and he motioned toward the eggs with a sweeping gesture and chittered something I could barely comprehend. Then he was gone with a flicker of electricity.

My eyes narrowed and I let out my breath in a rush of air. "Wonderful."

Though I waited, he made no sounds and offered me no further insight. Aggravated, I turned my repressed anger to the nearest egg. The baton was tucked in the waistband of my pants and I kneeled down, heaving the egg up with both of my hands. It was heavier than I expected, but I shifted and picked it up. Definitely not heavier than my dog and I carried her around all the time.

Growling to myself, I heaved the egg up onto my hands and tossed it as far I could—about six feet. It hit the ground with the same wet sound as a watermelon hitting concrete and shattered. I had _wanted_ to smash it like I had the others, but I wasn't going to let my only weapon melt away like the gun had, and I wasn't going to stomp on them and lose my foot.

Whatever it was about these aliens—their blood, their insides, whatever—it didn't react very well to anything but themselves.

"Use me as bait—shove me around," I muttered to myself, picking up another egg and hurling it across the smaller room. I didn't know what the room was for, but it seemed empty. Details were lost under inches of crusted slime.

Though I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing in that room, breaking the eggs made me feel better. It was productive, it was therapeutic, and it was _right_.

A distance screech made me look up from a particularly stubborn egg stuck to the ground. My eyes widened and a sudden realization hit me—this _was_ what I was supposed to be doing. I was _bait_. I was supposed to wiggle on the line and draw in the fish.

These things would come to protect their young right? And then my escort would swoop in and kill them all and then we'd move on and try to get more of them.

How many had he killed so far? Five? Six? How many could possibly be in the nest? Only a few had been kidnapped that first round, and then how many of my classmates? Two, three dozen? It didn't seem like a lot on paper, but I knew it probably was.

The thought filled me with dread—the rest of my friends. The rest of my classmates. Were they already dead?

I shook the thought from my head.

Focus on the here. Focus on the now. I had a job to do and if I wanted to survive, I should get to it. Eventually we would come across my friends. If I could stay in this alien's good graces, he might help me get them out of their predicament.

If they weren't already dead.

"Don't—think—like that!" I grunted as I tossed a third egg, panting slightly. It splattered across the ground with a wet sound. The little facehugger inside writhed and squealed, skittering around the ground, but eventually died. It looked slimy and sickly—definitely premature to be outside of its egg.

While I was destroying the rest of the eggs, I was making noise. I kept ranting to myself about this whole ordeal. When I ran out of things to complain about with my situation, I complained about other things. My stupid homeroom teacher. This dumb assignment that didn't make any sense to me. The fact that my favorite character in my favorite TV show had been killed off.

Then I heard the hissing.

An egg was still in my arms when I whirled around. There were three of them. I felt the color drain from my face and I backed up with the egg in my arms. Their lips were pulled back in silent snarls, but when I lifted the egg up a bit, they made _real_ snarls.

When they moved, I screeched something akin to a battle cry and hurled the egg at them. The three of them scattered and the egg's contents were spilled on the ground. Another premature facehugger flopped out. This one didn't move, it just slid across the ground on the unpleasantness from the egg, still and lifeless.

Good riddance.

The alien closest to the dead half-baked embryo nosed it. I thought I heard something like a keen from the three of them, but I couldn't dredge up any sympathy for this band of parasites.

Their heads swiveled over to face me and every muscle in my body froze. I felt the color drain from my face and I whipped out that baton, though I knew it wasn't going to save me from _three_ full-fledged aliens.

It had _barely_ saved me from _one_.

"Any second now. . . ," I muttered to myself, mostly to make myself feel better. Any second now and my escort would pop up and start killing things.

They advanced on me and I held my ground, certain that the big goon would materialize and kill something. One of them. At _least_ one of them. Maybe it would distract them enough that I could just. . . hide somewhere and wait for the slaughter to be over.

But he didn't. And the three black parasites took a few more steps toward me.

I whimpered and leaned down swiftly, picking up another egg. They hesitated and I lifted the egg higher, almost over my head, but my strength was failing me and my arms shook.

"Don't come near me!" I shouted, uncertain if they could even understand me.

Even if they didn't understand the words, they seemed to understand the gesture. They swung their heads this way and that, sizing me up, then took a step backwards. I lowered the egg a bit, but when they took another step, I lifted it again. They stepped backwards and their tails lashed like they were angry cats.

A new sense of power washed through me and I lifted the egg a little higher over my head. "Get back! Get back or I'll throw it!" I snapped.

However, I had to step toward them to make them step back.

And that was my folly.

After heaving and throwing several of the eggs, my muscles were weak and tired. Next to that, I was holding my baton while trying to juggle the slightly-bigger-than-a-watermelon egg at the same time. When I took a step, my elbows unlocked and I stumbled—then dropped the egg.

Quickly, I danced away from the egg goo that escaped, trying not to let me shoes melt. I had to jump and skip, but I managed to keep it off my hiking boots.

Whatever leverage I had against these three aliens slipped away along with the egg goo.

They screeched and lunged for me, determined not to let me get my hands on another one of their precious little eggs.

"_Any second now_!" I shouted, stumbling backwards.

I was dumb to think I was going to make it through this. We didn't worry about the live bait on our lines when we fished. Why would this alien care about me? I was just a worm on a hook, dangled out for the piranhas to eat.

One of the black parasites never made it to me. I didn't see why, because while I managed to smack one of them with my baton, the other leaped over its buddy and tackled me to the ground. Claws raked down my shoulder blade when I twisted to wrench myself out from underneath the beast, eliciting a strangled cry of pain.

It only made me double my efforts, but my arms wouldn't hold up my weight. They felt like jelly after lifting all of those eggs, so I couldn't get any leverage to try to throw off the drone.

There were other screeches from behind us, but I couldn't concern myself with them. I heard a familiar roar and took very little solace in the fact that my escort had managed to fucking show himself long enough to keep the others off of me.

My. Hero.

I heaved and writhed, but claws dug into my arms. All of the writhing paid off, though. Kind of. A searing pain lanced through my neck, stemming from the muscle I thought was my trapezius—where my neck and my shoulder met. I assumed it was probably aimed for like, my head, but I was thrashing and writhing and probably saved myself from death.

At the time it felt worse than death.

My body went slack and I screamed. As if my scream held some sort of power, a weight was lifted off of my body and I was free to curl in on myself and press both of my hands against my neck, panting and shuddering. Tears slid freely down my cheeks, though I tried hard to suck them up, tried hard not to show this kind of weakness.

Somehow, through sheer force of will, I choked down my sobs and uncurled from the fetal position. It wasn't any worse than when I'd broken my arm when I was twelve—it was just in a tender spot. I could push through this.

I found it hard to get to my feet, so I stayed on my knees instead. My escort was standing over the mangled bodies of the three parasites, fresh scratches on his armor and down his torso. One of them was pretty deep and vivid blood ran down from the jagged gash, running from his left clavicle down to his sternum.

My head reeled and I pressed a little lighter on the wound—I'd wound up cutting off my own pulse for a second there.

"Took you long enough," I muttered, trying to stand.

However, I found that my legs wouldn't obey and I fell back down. I didn't think it had anything to do with the bite on my shoulder, but something was making me shake. I took my hand away and found it covered in my own blood.

Was I going into shock?

I looked up to ask for some sort of help from my escort, but he had turned away from me. He was leaving the room. My eyes widened and my mouth fell agape. Was he leaving? He was _leaving me_! Because of my wound?

That he could just discard me without a second thought irked me to no end. Well fuck him. I was _not_ the last tiny nub of a worm left on the line, tossed aside and replaced. Not me.

I was making it out of this whether he liked it or not.

"Don't you leave me."

He didn't turn around and my anger flared. Grinding my teeth, I fought to heave myself to my feet and steadied, keeping pressure on the bleeding wound on my shoulder. I knew my other cuts were bleeding, and I could feel tender bruises blossoming on the various parts of my body. I staggered, but I managed to stay steady and I hurled the baton at his back.

"_Don't you fucking leave me_!"

Though he didn't flinch when the baton hit him, he did stop and turn to face me. I could hear his slight growl, but I didn't care.

I did my best to meet the impassive glare of his mask without wavering, but the blood loss had made me feel slightly light-headed and I swayed on my feet. At least I wasn't falling. At least I wasn't crying. I had thought I had earned enough brownie points with him, but apparently I was going to have earn a few more.

"I still got some fight left in me you pompous ass." I took an unsteady step toward him, my chest heaving. "One tiny little bite wound—isn't going to knock me out of this fight."

He watched me for a second, studying the stern look on my face, and his shoulders shook. At first I was confused, but then he started to make a strange rumbling sound that turned into a rolling trill. I realized after a moment that he was _laughing_.

"What's so funny?" I demanded.

However, he couldn't answer. He just took a few large steps toward me and put a hand on my good shoulder, pushing me down. I resisted, but he pushed hard enough to hurt and I sat down on the ground, brow furrowed and mouth pressed into a thin line. When he turned to leave I started to get up again but he turned and made a sharp sound, demanding, and held his hand up.

Though I hesitated, I sat back down. He wanted me to wait. He watched me a moment to make sure I was going to obey, then turned, his hair-like tendrils arching, and then disappeared out the door. Leaving me alone in that room.

*:･ﾟ✧

I never once took my eyes off the dead parasite serpents. They were dead, but I didn't trust it. They were so creepy, even while they were dead, and I always expected them to spring back awake and attack me.

The minutes seemed to drag on before he returned. I'd actually spaced out and barely noticed his return until I felt hands gripping me. My own hands had fallen from the bite wound on my shoulder, and it hadn't stopped bleeding. My green jacket was now a muddy brown on that side—heavy and sticky. I groaned as I came out of my blood-loss stupor, thrashing slightly until my arms were restrained.

"Wha. . . ."

My eyes struggled to focus but eventually my escort stopped being blurry and I blinked up at him. With my head spinning it took a bit to register what was going on, and then I felt a sharp pain in my chest that made me gasp.

The pain in my shoulder ebbed and my head started to clear. My good hand grasped at empty air and then I felt my escort push me back against the wall, rattling quietly. I slumped and closed my eyes, letting my breath out in a slow, relieved sigh. He'd given me a shot, that much I could deduce. Probably with some sort of freaking horse needle, by how tender the point of contact felt.

Much worse than my tetanus shot last year.

"You weren't going to leave me at all, where you?" I muttered, my voice feeling slightly thick as my body struggled to accommodate the weird painkiller he'd administered.

He looked at me, then made a strange noise I couldn't really describe—a click, a rumble. . . it was almost like it was a word, but I couldn't really make out real comprehensible syllables. His was probably a language I would have to pay real close attention to in order to pick out the meanings.

And I was not in the state of mind to do that.

But I understood the gist of it. I shifted slightly and pursed my lips. "Sorry for yelling at you then. . . I guess," I sighed.

All he did was grunt in response, his shoulders shaking slightly in silent laughter.

The pain killer was making me feel a little bit nauseous, but I swallowed the bile and closed my eyes, focusing on breathing slowly. Meanwhile, his fingers brushed against the bite wound in my shoulder. His skin felt rough, almost scaly. He shifted and squeezed my shoulder, making me whine slightly, but I grit my teeth and bit back a louder whimper.

However, he had to practically sit on me after he jabbed some medical staples into the wound, piecing the skin back together. I yelped in pain and surprise, throwing most of my weight into dislodging him. I didn't mean to, but the pain elicited another knee-jerk reaction.

I struggled for a little bit, whining and gasping, but he held me still until the pain-induced spasms ended, which was quickly thanks to the sort of isolated anesthetic he'd injected me with.

Once I stilled, he let me up and I sat up on my own, chest heaving and fingers delicately brushing where the sutures were. They felt big, metal, and heavy, and definitely like they weren't made for my flimsy human flesh, but at least the skin was being held together now. And the bleeding had stopped. I'd been sure that any wounds I'd sustained I'd just have to deal with—not that he'd _dress_ my wounds.

Still, never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Somehow I managed to stand without collapsing and I took a steadying breath. "Thank you. For that," I said, squaring my shoulders and trying to meet him eye to eye. It was hard when he was three heads taller than me, but I think I did alright.

He gave me a slight nod and turned to lead me out of the room. I caught a glimpse of the giant gash in his chest from the fight—it had its own sutures and had stopped bleeding.

Well, what could I expect. Of course he'd wander off to tend to his own wounds first.

Couldn't blame the guy for that.

I jogged to catch up to him, though each hard step jarred my shoulder, and fell into stride next to him. "What are we doing here, anyway?" I asked.

He glanced at me and this time I didn't shy away. "Well—I mean I know what _I'm_ doing here, but what are _you_ doing here?" I clarified. I had a few theories, but most of it just boiled down to some sort of infestation, a forced landing, and now pest control. That was about all I could come up with and it made the most sense to me.

The alien studied me for a moment, then growled and led me down the path in silence. I waited, but it didn't seem like he was going to answer me. I opened my mouth to ask again, but just huffed and turned away from him, glowering into space.

"Wait," I muttered after a moment, though I didn't stop following him. I pat myself down, but it wasn't there. "The baton—I forgot it. I don't—I need some sort of weapon I have to go find it!"

When I turned, though, he just grabbed me by the good shoulder and spun me around, ushering me onward. I thought about complaining, and I even started to, but he cut me off with another commanding trill and I clamped my jaw shut. Great. Now I had to go through this without any sort of weapon. Lot of good the baton did, but it was all I had.

And now nothing was all I had.

But he seemed unconcerned. He didn't even seem like he was heading into battle right now, either. Just walked with purpose instead of the hunting crouch I'd become accustomed to. I watched him carefully, noting the way his head inclined at every noise, the little grumbling that came from his chest, like he was muttering to himself. I didn't know what it meant, and I wasn't going to ask, but it made him seem less alien somehow.

Maybe not quite _human_, but at least more of a _person_ than an unthinking, murderous alien of death and destruction.

He stopped suddenly and I almost bumped into him, but halted just in time. I watched curiously as he turned toward the wall and pulled down a section of the crust, revealing a control pad. He dragged the claw of his index finger down it, activating the pad, then pressed some keys.

When a door slid open with a hiss, I jumped.

For some reason he found that infinitely amusing and motioned for me to go inside.

At first I thought it was some sort of trick so I just stood outside the threshold, staring into the darkness. He chittered quietly and shoved me inside, making me stumble.

I hissed some choice profanities at him and straightened up, looking around the room. It was much darker in here than out in the hall, so it took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but when it did I instantly knew why he hadn't answered my question. I also knew that my theories were all wrong.

It was easier for him to show me rather than tell me, and he was no pest control.

Lining the wall were dozens of strange, alien skulls. Some were as big as me, some were animal sized, there were quite a few of the elongated skulls of the strange serpents inhabiting the ship, and some. . . some looked _real_ close to human skulls. Close enough that my subconscious knew they were, but my mind refused to believe.

It was like the giant elk mounted on the wall at my grandparents'. They were trophies. Dozens of hunting trophies.


	8. Focus

**Hello readers!**

**Hope everyone had happy holidays. Shorter chapter this time, sorry! Next one should be up on Thursday, so see you all then.**

**~Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Seven<p>

Focus

I stepped up to the perfectly bleached and polished trophies mounted to the wall. The lights hovering over them were giving off a lot of heat and I was beginning to become uncomfortable in my heavy jacket. I thought about taking it off since it was so tattered and blood-soaked anyway, but I still couldn't bring myself to do it.

"You—killed all of these?" I asked, unzipping and undoing the buttons on the jacket. Maybe if I just let it open I would cool down a little bit.

Now I had to look at this alien in a new light. He was some sort of hunter, but that didn't explain much. He hadn't taken any of the ones we killed as trophies, so did he not think them worthy? Did they have to put up a greater fight? Did they have to be worth more points?

My grandpa had hunted and killed more deer and elk in his life, but he only had the one because it almost broke some sort of record. Was it the same here?

And he wasn't killing to eat, either. I didn't think he'd want to eat something that corroded away material like the creatures we'd be killing. Besides that, he hadn't dressed any of them or gutted them or anything like when we caught fish to eat.

So what the hell was going on here?

When I glanced over at him, he made that sound from before and shifted his weight slightly. It was the same sound—word?—he'd said when I asked him if he had intended to leave me after the three aliens attacked. I assumed it meant no.

But if he didn't kill it. . . ?

"So this isn't your ship?" I asked. I wanted to ask a bunch more questions, but I knew I had to do this one at a time so he could reply.

Again, he replied in the negative.

"Are. . . there more of you here, hunting these things?" I turned away and reached out a hand toward the skulls, but quickly withdrew when he snarled an admonishment. Don't touch the trophies. Got it.

Instead I took a few steps back and then turned toward him. He made the "no" sound again and my face contorted slightly from confusion. The ship was too big for him to be in it by himself, but there weren't any other of his kind hunting these things. That didn't make any sense.

"Where is everyone else, then?"

He lifted his hand and pointed upward, inclining his head ever so slightly. I followed his indication and caught my lower lip between my teeth. Up—

"In space?"

The alien hunter nodded.

"Are they. . . in a ship like this?"

Somewhere on the ship a screech interrupted our conversation. This alien—this hunter—turned his head ever so slightly, growled, and then took a few steps toward me. I took a tiny step away, but otherwise didn't flinch. His hand gripped my good shoulder and he ushered me along.

"Alright, alright. . . walk and talk, I get it," I muttered, shrugging out of his grip. He let his hand drop and his head tilted slightly to watch me. "So are they in another ship like this, just orbiting?"

He replied in the negative and steered me down another hallway. When we were in the right direction, he lifted his hands about a foot apart, and then slowly brought them closer until his palms were only a few inches apart.

"A smaller one?"

A short nod and a sound that I figured meant "yes."

"Why?" I stumbled slightly when I turned to see the answer and had to catch myself on a wall. There were more screeches coming from deeper down the tunnel, but they were a little different than what I was used to. More shrill, like the sound of one of the chestbursters.

When I was on more even footing, I looked back at him again. He lifted his hand and pointed two fingers to the eye sockets of his mask. His other hand pulled out his spear and he got it ready.

Apparently he expected us to be under attack pretty soon.

Or maybe he just expected us to be under attack all the time.

"They're. . . watching you. . . hunt?" I guessed.

Another short nod and a rattle I interpreted as pleasure—he was pleased that I was able to catch on so quickly, though I didn't know why. He was pretty good at this pantomiming stuff.

My mouth opened to ask another question, but there was a hissing sound very close by. I froze and my escort stopped behind me, quietly chittering, and raised his spear. We watched and waited, and then a tiny, off-gray chestburster slithered into view, hugging the wall as it went.

I held my breath and crouched low, then started to advance on it. However, a strong hand gripped my good shoulder and stopped me short. I turned quickly to see my escort staring at me.

"What?" I whispered quietly, glancing between him and the tiny alien. I didn't want to take my eyes off it for a second, but it didn't seem interested in us. It had spotted us, of course, but it just coiled up and hissed, letting out a meek little screech.

He held onto my shoulder until I allowed myself to relax, then took his hand off of me. We watched the creature to see what it would do, but when we made no further moves, it just slithered off out of sight with no further incident. I watched it with my mouth slightly open, brows furrowed. After a brief pause to make sure it was gone, I rounded on the hunter.

"Why'd we let it go?"

However, he just watched me, head tilted, like he wasn't sure how to respond coherently.

I lifted my hand to indicate in the direction it had disappeared. "It's just going to grow up into one of those abominations and then it's going to try to kill us!"

That seemed to be what he had been waiting for. He leaned back slightly and just nodded slowly. I stared at him, bewildered, and looked back at the spot the tiny baby alien had been. That was the point? So it could grow up and—and. . . what?

My eyes widened and I turned to look at him again, stepping back to size him up. "You—that's the point, isn't it? You didn't want to kill it unless it attacked, right? Because it was a baby?"

He answered in the affirmative and I thought I saw his chest swell, like he was proud of me.

It was not unlike something I'd seen the teachers at school do if I was having a particularly hard time understanding something, only to have an epiphany while they helped. It was kind of eerie. Was he trying to mentor me? That didn't make any sense.

"It wouldn't have been worth anything to kill right now. . . ," I muttered more to myself.

Though I had been talking to myself, he still nodded and pushed us onward. It was a more leisurely pace than before, but he still led us onward in the direction the chestburster had been going. I glanced down the hall to see if I could spot it moving, but it must have found a hole to crawl into or was just swallowed by the darkness.

My hunter escort wouldn't kill babies. Maybe that was why he hadn't killed me—I was still practically a child in the grand scheme of things. At least by Earth standards. If that chestburster I'd killed hadn't attacked and taken a chunk out of my hand, I might have felt bad about it.

*:･ﾟ✧

"What exactly are you hunting for? You've killed like seven of these things and haven't taken a single trophy," I pointed out after a bout of silence. He'd hushed me after a particularly close-sounding shriek, but after a few minutes of no more sounds I felt brave enough to speak up again.

He paused in his steps and then lifted his gauntlet and pressed a few buttons. He had some sort of computer mounted on his wrist that seemed to do various things.

A hologram projected over the wrist computer. I stepped up a little closer to look at it and felt the heat it was giving off. The image hovering in the air was of a giant beast not unlike the serpents we had been seeing all over the place. It was more insect-like than the others with big back legs and a few different sets of smaller arms. Instead of the smooth, elongated heads of the others, it sported a huge crown that reminded me of a triceratops.

"That thing?" I asked. "What—is it?"

Wolf, as I started to identify him as due to his constant little growling sounds and the fact that "Tiger" or "Lion"—though both hunters—didn't quite fit, pressed another button and a new hologram replaced the current one. It was of the same giant beast, but instead it was hunched over as if asleep, and behind it was a huge sack. On the other end it was producing eggs. The hologram shimmered and revealed a large hologram of the eggs, then he turned it off.

It took me a moment. This beast was undoubtedly bigger than the others we'd come across, if the sack and eggs were any indication. It had a big egg sack. . . . At least that explained where all of these eggs were coming from. I'd doubted the few aliens I'd seen were giving birth to that many.

They were the drones, and this thing was the one giving birth to everyone, kind of like ants or bees or termites.

My eyes widened and I turned my head sharply to him. "A queen? Is this a giant hive?"

Wolf nodded and let his wrist fall. His gaze didn't leave me and I felt like he was waiting to see if I would ask more questions.

Of course I had plenty, but I had to pick and choose which were the most important.

"You're hunting it by yourself?" I settled on that. I hadn't seen any other of his kind around and he'd said there was no one else on the ship, but that thing looked scary as hell. I wouldn't have wanted to hunt it on my own.

He nodded and motioned for me to walk and talk. I trotted after him obediently.

"The queen—that's going to be a big trophy, isn't it?" I asked, pressing myself up against the wall as we reached a fork, just as he had shown me a few paths back. We inched along the wall and peered around the corners to make sure everything was clear.

Wolf nodded and motioned for us to continue. He pushed me on ahead of him this time.

"Do you get like. . . promotions or something based on your trophies?" I asked.

I glanced back to see his nod and then fell silent. I could hear more screeches up ahead and even though I was speaking in a low voice I didn't want to draw any of them out. I mean sure that was my job but I wasn't done asking questions. There was so much I wanted to know, though I should have only cared about how I was going to get out of here.

One particular question plagued me. It had been bugging me ever since he'd shown me his trophy room. "Do you hunt humans for trophies, too?" My voice was low, and I hoped he had heard me. He looked at me for a long time, considering, then nodded. I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned away from him with a short little nod. As I'd expected, those skulls in the trophy room had belonged to humans.

We were silent for several heartbeats as I let that sink in. He obviously wasn't here hunting humans this day or else he might have killed me—or maybe not, but now I knew how dangerous he really was.

But if he hunted humans, why was he helping me? He shouldn't care if I lived or died. Or was it just because he was using me for right now?

My lips pressed into a thin line and I considered making a break for it, but I doubted I would get very far. He hadn't done anything to hurt me so far, but I knew I couldn't let that fool me. I would just have to keep my guard up, maybe press for a weapon. If he trusted me with a weapon, then at least I'd be prepared if he ever turned on me.

I was so lost in thought that I almost missed the fierce wail from above me. I stopped short and turned my head to look in time to see one of the facehuggers leap off the ceiling toward me.

Eyes wide, I leaned back slightly and lifted my hands to protect my face. The last thing I'd expected was for these things to wonder off. I'd just assumed they'd stay put until a host was brought to them, but apparently no. Apparently they went _looking _for hosts if there weren't any.

Just perfect.

At least Wolf was paying attention. One split second later he was shoving me forward. I lost my balance and tumbled to the ground, but quickly turned to get on my feet.

The facehugger hit his mask then scrambled around frantically, tail lashing. It seemed surprised and confused to find no mouth or any real open orifice at all, so it leaped off of him and started toward me again, squealing.

It didn't get far before my escort stabbed it with his spear. The thing scrabbled around, squeaking and hissing, then finally fell still.

I felt as if my heart was going to explode straight out of my chest. I stayed on the ground for a second, staring at the dead facehugger. If Wolf hadn't been so vigilant, if he'd been just a little bit slower, I would have gotten a mouthful of _that_.

Would he have been able to get it off me? Or would he have just cut his losses and kill me?

For now, I decided not to think about that. I got to my feet a little shakily and turned to look at him, my eyes still widened with fear.

"So do I get a weapon now?" I practically begged. I could hear a few tiny screeches in the distance, and I was beginning to recognize them as chestbursters. There was probably a nest room up ahead. That meant I'd _need_ to be able to protect myself.

His low rumble made me a little worried, and I waited for him to decide. I watched him as he considered me, then he reached behind him, detached something from the big pack on his back, and produced a blade about the length of my forearm with a short handle. He twisted it and held it out to me hilt-first, head tilted to the side expectantly. I stared at the weapon for a moment, my face pale.

I was more likely to hurt myself with that thing than I was anything else.

The blade wasn't smooth like a sword. It was wickedly serrated with a slight curve. I swallowed hard and reached out to take it, surprised at how light it actually was. I was expecting it to be heavy with how bulgy his muscles were, but it was like holding a whiffle bat.

"Th-thank you," I said, a little surprised he had trusted me with it. I looked up at him and bit my lower lip. "Will the aliens make this melt if I cut them?"

He answered in the negative and I nodded. "Okay."

Once again Wolf pushed me forward. When I looked back this time, though, he was gone.

"What are you. . . ," I muttered, stopping for a second to look around. I should have gotten used to it by then, but every time he pulled his disappearing act I was always terrified he had just left me alone in this god forsaken ship full of monsters.

The low chittering sound he made and a light bump to my shoulder let me know he was still there. I took a breath and continued forward with a little more confidence.

So he was just letting me know that we were done talking. No more questions.

I pushed onward toward the tiny screeches, scrambling over fallen consoles and inching around corners. It wasn't long before I could hear something else. A familiar sort of sound that—wait. Could that have been. . . a human scream? I stopped moving, I stopped breathing. I just listened with baited breath until I heard it again.

Definitely a _human _scream.

Before I could think better of it I broke out into a run. Wolf trilled behind me but I ignored him.

I recognized that voice. It tugged at my heart and panic rose in my chest once again. I had to get there in time. I just had to.

_Jess! Jess I'm coming!_


	9. A Tortured Soul

**Hello readers!**

**Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you all made achievable resolutions this year! :D **

**I'd like to start off by saying sorry, not sorry. **

**Anyway, I started posting up my Transformers fanfic if anyone would be interested in reading that. Just thought I'd let y'all know! It already has like six chapters up and I'll be posting that pretty regularly. I don't really have a set schedule for that one, just whenever I manage to get the chapters edited. I already have the whole thing written up so.**

**From here on I'm going to be practically writing whole chapters from scratch, but I'll still try to post every five days! See you all on Tuesday! Let me know what you think of this chapter ;D**

* * *

><p>Chapter Eight<p>

A Tortured Soul

I couldn't believe that I'd forgotten about Jess and the others. Maybe not completely, and maybe not on purpose, but I had. My mind had thrust my friends into the deep recesses of my mind. Maybe it was because Simmons had told me to. Told me to focus on getting myself out. That was no excuse. . . they were my friends!

Right turn—straight ahead—follow the screaming.

My breath came in short gasps and I fought hard to run as fast as I could. There was a small window of opportunity, if I already wasn't too late.

No—no I _wouldn't_ be too late.

Finally I made it. I slid on some still-wet slime and then scrambled into the egg room where I heard the screaming. I used the wall to keep myself up. It was dark, but my eyes had long ago adjusted and I could make out shapes on the wall. My eyes darted frantically around the room, my chest heaving to pull in oxygen.

Where was she? Where was she!

"Somebody! _Please_!"

"Would you cut that out? No one's coming!"

If my eyes could open any wider, they would have. That second voice was Michelle. I exhaled a plaintive whine and stumbled into the room proper. "Jess? Michelle?" I called to the darkness.

After I said it, I spotted them all pinned against the far wall. Several shapes, even.

Their heads lifted and looked over to me. At first they looked wild and frightened, but when they realized who it was I felt the atmosphere lighten.

_ Everything is going to be okay._

"Nichole! Nichole it's you! Please, oh god you have to get us down!" Michelle pleaded.

"You're alive! Oh Nichole I was so worried!" Jess wailed.

I fumbled through the darkness, taking great care _not_ to look at the eggs that littered the floor. The ones that I glanced at looked empty.

Probably a trick my mind was playing on me.

Jess strained against the crust pinning her to the wall as I approached. I glanced around her and took stock of all the people around her. Michelle, Jake, Victor, Rick, one of the cops and a few other classmates I couldn't recall—all the ones that had been on the edge of the forest when those serpent-spider drones had caught us.

"Are you alright?" I asked, using my free hand to roughly tug at the crust.

She shook her head. I could tell she had been crying for quite a while. "No! No I'm not! Please you gotta get me down, we have to leave!"

"How did you get out?" Michelle asked. Next to her Jake was beginning to stir.

"It's a long story," I sighed, glancing at her.

Michelle leaned forward eagerly. "But you can get us out?"

I nodded and pulled back slightly to lift the weapon Wolf had loaned me. "I will but you guys have to be _quiet_, ok? You think you can do that? If those things come to see what's going on and find me here it'll be bad."

Jess nodded and pursed her lips shut. Michelle nodded and took a deep breath.

"Nichole? Jess?" I heard Jake's voice this time and I turned to look around the wall. There was maybe a total of four people actually awake—Victor and Rick were not among them.

"Shh! You guys have to be quiet, okay? I'll get you all down but you _have to be quiet_!" I took a few quick steps across the room, examining everyone. Rick and Victor were already dead with gaping holes, as were most of the others in the room. I hadn't been able to save all of them.

Tears threatened to spill but I took a few deep breaths and pushed them away. I had to focus on Jess and Michelle and the ones that were _alive._

Jake was silent for a moment but then asked in a whisper, "They died, didn't they?"

I turned toward him and brushed away a stray tear, nodded. "Yeah."

Jess started to cry again and Michelle fought back tears as well. Jake just looked down at the floor, his eyes widening slightly. I kept my eyes up, too afraid to look at the ground. Too afraid of what I might see lying there.

That was the last thing I wanted to see.

If I couldn't see it, it wasn't there.

"Kid!" I turned to look at the cop that was strung up. "Where did you get that weapon?"

Suddenly Jess was muffling screams, and I could hear Michelle crying out a warning that made me wince. I turned, expecting to see more of the drones bearing down on us—I even lifted the blade Wolf had given me—but it was just Wolf melting into view. He grabbed me by the good shoulder and pulled me back away from my friends.

"Hey! Stop it!" I protested, pushing against him.

He pushed against my chest, using his free hand to lift a finger to tell me to wait. I knew what he was going to do, though. I didn't want to think about it. I wasn't going to just wait this time. I shook my head and stared him down belligerently. "No! No I'm getting them down! They're fine!"

_ Everything is going to be okay._

Wolf stopped and turned slightly to look at me, his head cocked to the side.

"Kid! Get away from that thing! Run!" the cop demanded.

My anger peaked and I turned on him, hissing through clenched teeth. "_Shut up_! You have to be _quiet_ and he's here to help!"

The officer looked bewildered, but at least he was quiet now.

I sighed and straightened my jacket, then nodded a stray strand of hair out of my eyes. "Kind of, anyway," I muttered.

"Kind of?" Jake echoed. His voice was heavy and I suddenly thought of Simmons.

No, no. I sucked in a breath and clenched my teeth. I was just imagining it. Everything was fine. I was here in time to help them.

My escort growled quietly and stepped up to me. I squared my shoulders and met his gaze evenly. I should have probably listened to him. Let him do what he wanted to do, but I couldn't bring myself to let him. "I'm _getting_ them _down_."

He shifted his weight, then took a step away and turned to the side before making a sweeping gesture with his hand.

I relaxed and then nodded to him. "Thank you."

"Nichole what is that?" Jess whispered as I got to work with hacking at the crust with my blade. I was careful not to cut anyone. It was hard work, but at least my friends and the cop were now free. Sticky and covered in muck, but free.

"An alien. He's killing the black things," I muttered, helping her to her feet.

Michelle groaned and shook some slime from her hands and pulled long strands of the stuff out of her hair. "Ugh so gross. . . ew. . . ."

"Nichole, there were these things. I think—"

I quickly cut Jake off before he could finish that thought. He looked disgruntled, but I just couldn't put up with it right then. "No time, we have to get you guys out of here."

_Everything is going to be okay._

Hoping that I hadn't pissed him off too badly, I turned to Wolf and took a tentative step toward him. "Can you lead us off the ship? Just get us safely out—them! Even just them! I'll stay and I'll be your bait, I promise! Just—please, please help me get them out of here!" I pleaded.

He regarded me for a moment, rattling quietly, and then turned his gaze toward the huddled group of people. Wolf lifted his hand to press a few buttons on his wrist computer, then glanced back at me. I watched him for a second until he made a quiet, gentle trill. His head shook and he pointed at them, and then at the eggs.

"They're fine!" I insisted. "They'll be okay, we just need to get them off the ship and they'll be okay! We made it in time!"

Wolf stared at me a moment longer, then chittered sharply and turned toward the door. I watched him until he stopped at the portal, then turned and motioned for us to come. My heart soared and I turned toward the group. "C'mon! He'll get us off this ship!"

"How do you know?" the police officer demanded. He had his gun in his hand and was staring at Wolf. "It's an _alien_. Why would it help us?"

"Nichole what did you mean you'd be its bait?" Jess asked in a tiny voice.

I groaned and rolled my eyes. Every moment we spent trying to argue we were closer to being caught by the drones running around. "We don't have time for this! You can either stay here and try to get out on your own, or you can follow me and him to safety!"

Jake glanced around, his expression uneasy. "Nichole I really don't think—"

"Well?" I interrupted him again. "Make up your minds!"

With that, I turned and stormed toward Wolf. When I reached him, I turned to look at them expectantly. They shared some glances, and then my friends headed toward us. The cop looked uneasy, but eventually came around and trudged along.

*:･ﾟ✧

I was walking on air as we jogged through the winding hallways of the massive ship. Jess and Michelle and her boyfriend were all okay. The cop, too, and I guess that was alright. Wolf was on board and taking us out of here. Even if something were to happen to me, at least I knew my friends were going to make it out.

"C'mon, stay close," I murmured. Even though I was comfortable walking within arm's length of Wolf, everyone else hung back, rightfully nervous.

Wolf continued to glance back at me, and at my friends. He always quietly rumbled and rattled gibberish at me, but I couldn't understand. I knew though, in the back of my head. I knew what he was trying to tell me. I wouldn't have it though.

_Everything is going to be okay_.

"Nichole," Michelle called, actually jogging up to match strides with me. "Jess."

My steps faltered and I turned to see Jess falling a little bit behind, clutching her chest. I knew she wasn't the most in shape of the group, my still my heart started to beat a little harder.

"Keep going I'll be back," I said to Wolf.

However, I still saw him stop from the corner of my eyes as I ran back to Jess. The police officer was hanging close by her, and I caught Jake pulling Michelle a little closer, whispering something I couldn't hear to her.

I did my best to ignore them all and just hurried to Jess's side.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, placing my hand tentatively on her shoulder.

_Everything is going to be okay._

She looked up at me, her face contorted in pain, and had to catch her breath before she responded. I heard a screech somewhere in the distance and looked around—everyone else seemed short of breath as well.

"I think—I think I'm okay. My chest just—hurts a little bit is all. I can keep going, though."

The police officer looked up from Jess to me. He rubbed at his own sternum absently, looking a little uncomfortable. "We should rest."

I shook my head. "No we can't. We have to keep going. I'm sure the exit isn't too far."

When I turned to Wolf, he was still standing in the same spot, staring directly at me, his head cocked to one side. "How much farther?"

He shook his head and I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he meant.

_Everything is going to be okay._

Jess whimpered next to me and I turned away from the macho alien to look at her. She was doubled over, both hands holding her chest. "Jess?"

She wheezed violently and I crouched in front of her, rubbing her back gently. My heard thudded against my ribcage and my mind fought to rationalize. We'd been running. She wasn't that in shape, maybe she just wasn't used to it. We were all kind of panicky—maybe she just couldn't handle this kind of stress. Maybe it was a stress cough.

It had to be a stress cough.

_Everything is going to be okay._

"Jess?" My voice was small.

Her head shook and then everyone else was crowding around, asking if she was okay. I heard someone cough behind me, but I couldn't tell who it was.

"It—it hurts."

Someone gasped and then I felt a familiar weight on my shoulder—Wolf's hand. He chittered urgently and I shrugged him off, lifting a hand and waving it around my head to try to ward him off. "Just give her some space! Just back up!"

Jake stepped up next to me, his face grim. "Nichole I was trying to tell you—"

"_Shut up_!"

Jess cried out and I turned toward her with wide eyes. "That thing—the spider thing—it was on me and—Nichole what. . . ?"

My heart sank all the way to my soles of my feet.

_Everything is going to be okay._

"No—no you're fine. I didn't see any spider thing, Jess. Just take deep breaths. Okay? Just breathe deep and stand up and put your hands on your head—it'll open your airways better and—"

Michelle choked out a sob somewhere to my right. "Nichole. . . ."

A _crack_ echoed through the small corridor. Everything else fell silent.

It was punctuated by Jess's pained shout.

"Jess?" I whined, sitting back a little bit. Jess crumpled to the floor and writhed, and I heard more cracking and a wet sound. Tears had already started to slide down my cheeks. "Jess?"

_Everything is going to be okay._

"Oh my god," Michelle whimpered.

Jake was silent, but he pulled Michelle away from the scene and they moved out of my eyesight. I could feel someone—the cop, Wolf, whoever—tugging on my arm, but I was like an anchor, rooted to the spot I crouched in.

One last _crack_ and another sharp scream from my best friend, and her chest burst open. I felt something wet hit my exposed clavicle and my neck, and I flinched only a tiny bit.

"Jessica?"

A tiny head peered out from the hole it had created and Jess' body bucked in another spasm. Her eyes were wide, mouth agape, and she tried to pull in one last breath before she fell still.

It took me a few seconds to realize the keening wail I heard was coming from me.

_Everything is _not _going to be okay._

"Holy shit!" Michelle screeched. She continued to scream and I could see her shuffling about from the corner of my eye.

"What the fuck?" the police officer muttered.

I barely heard them. It was like they were behind a sheet of glass, their voices muffled and incoherent. The world narrowed down and faded out until it was just me and Jess' body and the abomination taking residence in her torso. The thing turned and looked at everyone, sightless head falling on me last, and then it slithered out and made a break for it.

A guttural, incoherent snarl ripped from my throat and I lashed out with the blade Wolf had given me. It came down swift and hard, cleaving the thing easily in two. I left the blade there, stuck partly in the floor, and stumbled blindly to my feet.

The world came back all at once. Michelle was screaming, Jake was trying to tell me he'd told me so, and the police officer was kneeling by Jess, trying to take her pulse.

I made that same keening sound from before, staring at my palms. My face and neck were wet from tears and maybe a little bit of spittle, and I stumbled back before bumping into something solid as a wall. A wall that made little rattling sounds.

Wolf put his hand on my shoulder and gently—actually gently this time—pushed me behind him. I still stumbled back slightly and fell to my knees, sobbing and gasping for breath.

"There was one on me, too!" Michelle wailed.

"Me, too," Jake muttered. He seemed resigned, and he couldn't stop looking from Jess' body to the dead alien that had come from her chest.

The police officer got to his feet, his face white as a sheet. "All of us."

Michelle quickly turned hysteric. "Don't let that happen to me! I can't have that! I can't go through that! Please! Please you gotta do something!" I didn't know who she was talking to, but when I looked up, she was staring at me with horror. "Did you know this, Nichole?"

I swallowed hard and managed a tiny little shake of my head. My Jaw worked up and down, but no sounds came out.

Jake turned to Wolf and eyed him. "You—you have to kill us."

All eyes went to him. Michelle inhaled sharply, looking appalled. "Jake what the fuck are you saying? That's not—"

He took her hands and looked into her eyes. I just stared stupidly, hiccupping and fighting back the choking sobs that wracked my body, making me tremble. I felt like I was going to fall apart at the seams and wrapped my arms around me, trying to hold myself together. Literally.

"Listen to me babe—you feel it already, right?" he asked her.

Michelle nodded, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open. I managed to get to my feet.

"You saw what happened to Jess. Do you want to go through that?"

This time she shook her head. She sniffed wetly and swallowed hard. Before I knew it, I had walked unsteadily toward them and stopped when Michelle looked up at me.

"Nichole—"

Jake shook his head and pulled Michele against his chest.

I looked over to Wolf and he regarded me silently, the muscle in his arm flexing slightly. The blades in his wrist gauntlet extended with a metallic his and he tilted his head to the side. Everyone flinched at the sound.

His eyes didn't leave me.

He was asking for my permission.

My eyes wandered to the cop and he shook his head. "No way. I'm not letting some stupid alien kill us. Not happening."

"Dude do you want to—"

The police officer already had the gun in his hand. He raised it, his face grim, and lifted it until it was even with Michelle and Jake. Jake pushed Michelle behind him and lifted a hand. "What? No—wait—dude c'mon."

A rough hand pulled me away from them and I stumbled, my mouth opened as I watched the police officer take a few steps toward them. "I'm sorry—it'll be quick, I promise." Then he took two took two shots. I flinched both times and swallowed down my scream as first Jake dropped to the floor. Michelle managed to get out a whine before the second shot. Then she went down too.

At first he rounded on me next, but Wolf growled a warning and stepped in the way. He stared at the two of us, looked back at Jess' body, then sighed. "I'm sorry." He put the gun to his temple and fired. I flinched again and put my hands to my mouth, watching him slump to the ground.

Wolf's blades retracted with another hiss and he looked down at the bodies in the hallway, then turned toward me.

The entirety of my body was trembling like a leaf in the wind. Wolf turned toward me and lifted his hand, but I ducked around him and swiftly shed my heavy jacket, draping it over Jess' body. I avoided looking at Michelle and Jake and the police officer, then took I straightened up and took a few steps back once Jess' body was covered.

I bumped into Wolf and whirled around. He regarded me coolly, then turned, his braids arching, and headed down the hallway.

Business as usual.

My hands dropped limply to my sides and I stared at the floor ahead of me, my mouth agape. I didn't know what I'd expected. Sympathy? Condolences? A pat on the head? What did this alien care if I just had to watch all of my friends die?

Once again I raised my hands and pressed them hard against my head. I felt more sobs swelling in my chest and I panted, trying hard not to burst.

It wasn't good enough. My knees buckled under me and I collapsed to the ground, head between my hands and eyes swollen and scratchy from crying. I heard Wolf rattling up ahead, but when I finally managed to look up, he had disappeared. I didn't blame him. I wouldn't want to put up with my emotional baggage, either.

As I started to realize how alone I was, my breathing started to verge on hyperventilating. My friends were dead. My escort had abandoned me because I was emotionally weak. I was on my own again, and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to make it out of this anymore.

_Nothing will ever be okay._


	10. Alone

**Hello Readers!**

**Don't have much to say here. Hope this chapter is up to par with the rest of the story, been busy the last few days. I'll still have the next chapter up by Sunday, so see you all then. **

**~ Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Nine<p>

Alone

I don't know how long I sat there. It could have been two minutes or two hours. My mind still couldn't comprehend what had just transpired. Staring at Jess' body, I expected it to move at any moment. For her to get up. For the others to get up.

My body shook, wracked with silent sobs. I'd come so close to getting shot myself, but Wolf had stepped up and stopped it. I didn't understand.

Why me? Why was I okay? Why was I the person who had survived? Why not my friends?

Tears continued to spill over my lids, though the sobs finally started to subside to quiet hiccups. I didn't think I had the energy to cry anymore. I barely had enough energy to keep myself upright. All I wanted to do was lie down on the crusty ground and wait. Wait for some drones to find me. Wait for the end of the world, even. Whatever, it didn't matter to me.

Because I had done this.

I had convinced Jess to come on this stupid dare. I had withdrawn so far from reality that I couldn't see the truth, and Jess had suffered. She'd died a horrible death because I was too selfish to believe that she was in pain.

Wolf had tried to tell me. Jake had tried to tell me. Why hadn't I just listened?

I'd done this. This was _my_ fault.

Slowly I drew my knees up to my chest and hid my face, arms wrapped around my legs. Though I didn't cry, I gently rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet. There wasn't anything I felt I needed to do anymore. I'd been Wolf's bait because it was my ticket out of this hell hole. If I got out, I could save my friends. Maybe stop an invasion while I was at it.

But now I had no friends to save.

And stop an invasion? Yeah right. Wolf could kill them all by himself. I'd just been there to make it a little easier. The queen might pose a problem, but I was sure he would be okay. He didn't really need me at all.

No one needed me. No one needed a selfish, naïve child. Who was I kidding?

At least the cop had been on top of it. I wished he had given warning, though. Wished he would have allowed us to say goodbye. A goodbye I would never get to say to Jess. Maybe it was for the best that he hadn't, might have been harder to let go if he'd given us any time to think about it, but that didn't stop me for hating him for it.

Maybe I should have felt grateful. I could not deny that it had been quick. Who knew if the result would have been the same if Wolf had had to end it. But I didn't feel grateful.

Just guilty.

I lifted my head to rest my chin on my knees. Though I didn't move my head, I glanced over to the bodies within my peripheral vision. I took a shaky breath and wiped my tears off on my folded arms then looked back to Jess' covered body. "I'm so sorry. So, so sorry." My voice was hoarse.

One of the bodies twitched, as if in response. I lifted my head and stared, my mouth open. A few seconds passed before it happened again: the cop's body bucked. I started and leaned away from it. When Michelle's body twitched next, I scrambled to my feet and backed away. A cracking filled the silence between my quickening breaths.

How had I not realized? This close to the end of gestation. . . my friends might have been dead, but the chestbursters weren't.

Was there no end to my own stupidity?

The first spray of blood made me jump three feet in the air. I stood rooted to the spot, eyes wide and mouth agape. When the little head started to poke through the hole in the officer's chest, I snapped out of the trance and looked around for the blade Wolf had left me. I almost expected it to be gone. For him to have picked it up and left.

But it was there, still stuck in the ground between the two pieces of the chestburster that had come out of Jess. I lunged and yanked it out of the ground, lifting it high in the air. The thing had crawled halfway out of the police officer by now, and my hand stayed.

It was just a baby.

And Wolf didn't condone killing babies.

My hand lowered a few inches and I looked over at the one I'd cut in half in my rage. Had that been why Wolf had left me? Because I'd broken some sort of rule?

Whatever. He wasn't here anymore. He'd already abandoned me. What did he care now if I killed a couple of these little chestbursters out of revenge? They would grow up eventually and just be killed, what was the difference if I killed it now?

I took a few steps toward the officer's corpse, planning to enact swift vengeance on the little beast, but it swung its head toward me, screeched, and then slithered away a lot faster than I would have given it credit. I grunted and lunged toward it, but it was fast and was swallowed by the darkness. A curse left my lips and I rounded on the other two corpses.

The fight drained from me when I saw Michelle's chest heave and bulge. I didn't want to watch another friend's body be defiled. Tears pricked my eyes and I walked back a few steps.

Jake's body spasmed and I turned and sprinting down the long hallway. Running from the responsibility. Running from the scene I had caused. Running from the tiny screeches and the echoing _crack_ that chased after me.

Running from the fact that I had broken Wolf's rule, and _that_ was why he had abandoned me.

*:･ﾟ✧

I stumbled through the halls, dragging my feet. I hadn't stopped running, but my desperate sprint had turned into a drunken jog and eventually I couldn't do it anymore. I collapsed on the ground, leaning against a wall, utterly exhausted. Physically, mentally, spiritually. . . just exhausted. Without the bursts of adrenaline to keep me going, I was ready to check out.

After running from that horrible hallway where all of my friends died, I hadn't seen hide nor hair of anything. No Wolf. No drones. No nothing. I figured I could have a couple moments to myself to just _rest_. I wanted sleep, but I couldn't have sleep.

My tears had dried up, the sobs had subsided to the occasional hiccup, but it had taken a lot out of me. At least I was mostly succeeding in keeping it together.

Mostly.

Maybe I could sleep. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. If I just lied down and let myself succumb to my exhaustion, I would be asleep for when the drones found me. Maybe then I wouldn't feel them tear me apart. I'd just be asleep, and I would just never wake up. I wouldn't have to wake up deal with the consequences of what I'd done.

That would be easy. That would be better than dealing with the sharp pain in my chest and the knowledge that _I_ had killed Jess.

The blade that Wolf had given me lied next to me on the ground, dropped when I had collapsed. The only reason it was there was because I'd held on to it when I had run from the gruesome scene of the chestbursters tearing their way out of my friends. I didn't plan to use it.

I didn't plan to fight off any drones. After all, why did I deserve to live?

Closing my eyes, I leaned my head up against the crusted wall I sat next to. My breathing was starting to slow and it felt so good to just close my eyes and rest. To pretend that I wasn't on an alien ship crawling with things that wanted to eat me.

It had to be close to four or five in the morning. I should have been in bed anyway. We should have gotten the pictures of the ship and then left, and then gone to bed happy.

There were so many things we should have done, so why didn't we do them?

Finally I started to slip. I kept my eyes closed and took in one last shuddering breath, a remnant of the sobbing I'd done earlier. My mind was racing with "should'a, would'a, could'a" scenarios, but I knew that with how exhausted I was, I would just pass out into sleep and then it would be all be over. I'd be found by a drone, and I could only hope that I would sleep through the stages of facehugger to chestburster. Maybe I didn't deserve that kind of mercy, though.

*:･ﾟ✧

If I did fall asleep, it couldn't have been for very long.

Somewhere—somewhere close—a screech jerked me out of it. I started violently and my eyes shot open, immediately darting around the small hallway.

No! I was supposed to stay asleep! I was supposed to just never wake up. Maybe the universe or God or whatever ran my life was trying to tell me that I didn't deserve peace after all. Maybe fate was trying to tell me I deserved nothing less but an equally horrendous death as my friends.

The sound came again, louder this time. My heart started to pound against my chest and any exhaustion I felt was chased away by adrenaline.

I pulled away from the wall and leaned to the side, trying to peer into the darkness. My hand brushed the hilt of the big-ass knife that Wolf had given me and my fingers clasped around the cool handle while I waited for the drone to arrive.

All I saw were shadows inside shadows on top of more shadows. But I knew something was down there. I thought I saw movement somewhere to my side and I looked sharply, but saw nothing. Now these shadows were beginning to scare me. But why? I shouldn't care. I _wanted_ this. I forced myself to calm down, to take a deep breath.

This was how it should be.

But when that drone's shape appeared a few yards away, all I felt was fear. Unadulterated and viscous, burning in the back of my head.

Slowly I got to my feet, my breathing becoming more and more erratic. It spotted me when I moved and swiveled its head toward me, chrome fangs glinting ever so slightly in the dim lighting. I lifted the large blade in my hand and started to back up.

_Let it come. Let it finish this and dole out your punishment_.

I froze where I stood, eyes wide and unblinking as I watched the black drone crawl along the wall. My heart dropped.

_All you have to do is stand here. _

My hand lifted the weapon up in front of me and I clutched it with both hands. Though I wanted to drop it, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was stuck in that pose, waiting for the angel of death to swoop in and end my misery.

When it squealed and lurched toward me, my fear and common sense overwhelmed me. My feet turned me around, my legs pulled me into a sprint, and I was tearing down the hallway, back in the direction I had come from. I heard the thing screech and give chase, so I ran faster and ducked down another hallway without thinking—so I wouldn't have to see those bodies again.

At least in these hallways, unlike the forest, they were straight. There wasn't as much debris to deal with. I wasn't a striker or a midfielder in soccer, but I still participated in conditioning practice. I could still run, I was still _fast_.

_Stop running!_

My body wouldn't listen to the desperate, guilty voice that plagued me. Fear drove me forward, fueled by every sound the thing behind me made. I knew not to look backwards this time and I kept my eyes forward, on the prize. Possible escape.

But it wasn't escape.

It was a dead end.

I was running fast enough and it was dark enough that the end of the hallway snuck up on me. I put on the breaks, but I still slammed into the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of me. I practically bounced back off the wall and my arms flailed as I tried to keep my balance.

The drone. I whirled around and pressed my back up against the wall, large blade held out in front of me. I coughed a few times, trying to fill my lungs with air again, and my arms were shaking.

It was still sprinting toward me. I couldn't drop the weapon and as the beast bore down on me, there was only one thought in my head. It overrode any of the guilt I was feeling and overwhelmed any of my higher cognitive thoughts.

_I'm scared_.

When it saw that I was trapped, it slowed down and dropped from the ceiling to the floor. Its head swung this way and then that way, considering me, checking for other enemies. Weighing its options and seeing what I would do. The waiting was killing me. The end result would be the same—so what if I put up a little bit of a fight?

Maybe it was better that way. Maybe it would just outright kill me instead of bother with having to string me up to a wall.

Step by step it came closer, screeching and snarling. My chest was heaving by now and I couldn't hold the blade in my hand steady, even with both hands. When it was about ten yards away, it stopped and crouched, muscles bunching. I knew it was going to spring and attack.

I wanted to let it, but my body tensed in preparation.

_I don't want to die._

Self-preservation won over guilt. When it leaped, I was ready.

The drone sprang with its powerful back legs, arms outstretched and claws ready to strike. I bellowed an incoherent battle-cry—more like a frightened scream, really—and lashed out with Wolf's blade. The black serpent-insect screeched as the swing connected, slicing off one of the large shoulder protrusions, but it still slammed directly into me. I smashed back-first into the wall and the weight of the monster dragged me to the ground.

Grunting and whimpering, I heaved and fought to slice with the blade, to thrust it upward. Claws tore the arm of my shirt and my skin, and then I found my mark with the blade. The creature snarled and I used all of my strength to shove it away from me, the blade driven deep into its chest.

It thrashed on the ground and I rolled away from it after pulling my weapon loose. I had to get away from it, had to crawl. . . .

White-hot pain bloomed on my shoulder blade and I screamed before flipping back over onto my back. The drone hadn't quite died, and I'd pulled out the only thing plugging up the wound on its chest. The thing had loomed over me to strike, blood from its open chest had fallen on my back when I'd rolled over, and it was easily burning through my shirt.

I kicked away from the alien as it stumbled and fell, yanking my leg back to avoid any more globs of acid-blood raining down on me. It screeched and reached out with a claw, tearing my pant legs, but it couldn't get back up. The barb-tipped tail lashed out at me, striking the ground by my hip, but I thrashed and somehow got my feet under me just enough to propel me away from the drone.

I had to put some distance between us, had to deal with this burn. . . .

The pain was almost unbearable. I did the only thing I could think of to do—I threw myself on the ground on my back and rubbed the wound on the ground. The slime and the crust on the ground was the answer. Those things didn't burn themselves. I caked as much semi-dried slime as I could onto the wound. In order to stop acid you had to drop the base, and the slime was the base.

Though the pain didn't stop, it didn't get worse. I could no longer hear my flesh sizzling and I whipped around, picking up the blade I had dropped. The drone hadn't gotten back up yet, but it was still trying to crawl toward me. I got to my feet and took a few swift steps toward it, ducking under the lashing tail, and then drove my knife into its skull.

When I pulled it out, the drone slumped, and then didn't move.

I stumbled backward and fell to the floor, panting. I watched that thing for a few minutes, waiting to see if it would get up, and when it didn't I crawled toward it. My shoulder blade stung with an intensity that brought tears to my eyes, and I feared that the acid-blood was just going to eat all the way through me and leave a giant hole, so I did what I thought would help.

Thick, viscous saliva dribbled from the dead creature's maw. Though it made my skin crawl, I still coated my fingers in the nastiness and did my best to rub some of it all over my shoulder blade. It hurt to touch and I could already tell how marred the skin was. It was going to scar, that much I could tell. At least it was my back and not my face. The slime felt cool against the acid burn, though, and I felt a tiny little bit of relief from the pain.

My entire body was trembling. I swallowed hard and leaned my head against the wall, closing my eyes and trying to catch my breath. There wasn't much time for me to rest, this I knew, but even a couple seconds of a reprieve would be good enough.

Something brushed against the top of my head. My eyes flew open and I jumped to my feet, swinging wildly with the blade. Too late I realized that it was Wolf standing there.


	11. Endless Night

**Hello readers!**

**I swear to god the action is going to pick up again next chapter. I know I've been dragging this out a little bit probably but hey what can I do except say "I promise this is going somewhere!" XD **

**Anyway, I may have to bump this down to once a week instead of every five days because I ran out of pre-written material so now I have to start this all from scratch. That means I'm going to be writing the new chapter from scratch AND revising it all in one week, so I just hope the quality doesn't suffer. If it does, I'll have to try longer gaps between updates. **

**Just let me know if the chapters start sucking and I'll do my best to fix it. XD Hopefully I'll see you guys Friday, but if not, just know that it's because I think you deserve better quality and am taking a little bit more time.**

**~ Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Ten<p>

Endless Night

I barely had enough time to register what was going on. One second I was hacking wildly at something I thought was attacking me, then the next my arms throbbed in protest with the solid impact of my blade against armor. I reeled with the jarring blow, but didn't move in for a second attempt.

This was Wolf, after all. It wouldn't matter _how_ many I times I tried.

"I—" Words failed me as I gaped openly at him. He stood there with his arm up, gauntlet facing me as if preparing to ward off another swing. I hadn't even seen him move to block, he'd been so fast.

Eventually my wits returned to me and I tensed. "I—I'm sorry! I wasn't expecting—I thought you'd. . . I'm sorry!" I took a tentative step away from him and raised my blade a few inches in front of me. I was afraid of retaliation.

Wolf watched me back, head cocked slightly to the side, and then he turned away to look at the dead body of the drone. He studied it for a moment, then looked at me.

At first I was little nervous. Was I not supposed to kill it? No fuck that it was going to kill me.

Why would he be upset that I killed it?

Suddenly, he closed the distance between us with a single stride, giving me barely any time to react. It wasn't a particularly threatening gesture, but I still tensed and held my breath when he reached for me. It was too quick for me to do much besides lift the blade a little higher to block, but he just grabbed my wrist and held me still. I stood perfectly rigid as he pried my left hand off of the blade. I started to protest and struggle, but his grip was gentle if not firm. He adjusted my right hand's grip on the hilt of the blade, pushed my shoulders back, and then kicked my legs apart before correcting my posture once more.

I stood there, dumbfounded, until he stepped back and appraised my stance. I had been standing like I was up to bat, but now I was crouched slightly, my arm held out to my side and blade raised. I felt absolutely ridiculous, but also a tad bit more stable.

But mostly just ridiculous.

He pulled out a smaller blade than the one I held, and mimicked my posture. I started to move out of the stance, afraid he was asking me to fight. He retaliated by moving faster than I would have ever guessed he could and smacking me with the flat of his blade. It was punctuated by a sharp growl.

"Ow!" I recoiled and gave him a hurt look. "You hit me!"

Once again he smacked my arm with the flat of his blade and snarled. "Ow! Shit! Fine!"

Grumbling profanities, I did my best to slide back into the stance he had shown me and glowered at him, waiting. He appraised me, then gave me some space and crouched down. What the fuck was going on? Was he challenging me? Teaching me? Why?

What did he even care anymore? I'd had an emotional breakdown and broke some sort of "don't kill babies" rule. Why was he even here bothering with me?

And fuck that if he was going to fight me I was running for it.

No way this muscular alien was faster than tiny little me.

After a second, he swung his blade, making me flinch slightly. The only thing keeping me from booking it was the fact that he was far enough away that it didn't even come close to hitting me. He did it a couple more times, then watched me expectantly. I huffed, realized that he wanted me to give it a shot, then tried my best to replicate the way he'd swung. It was remarkably easy with the blade being so light, but I could still feel my face flush—this whole situation was outside of my comfort zone.

He showed me again, and I tried it a couple more times until he nodded in approval and put his blade away.

I stared at him, bewildered.

Then I lost control of my brain-mouth filter.

"What are you doing here?" I blurted out, sounding more demanding than I'd meant.

However, when he looked at me with his head cocked, I didn't falter. My confidence grew as my anger built—anger at this position, anger at myself, anger at my friends' death. . . . "Why are you even bothering with me anymore? Teaching me how to swing this stupid thing? You left, remember? I killed that baby thing, I had a complete melt down—"

When I paused for breath, Wolf crackled something like a question at me.

"I'm not _like you! _That was my _best friend_ in there, and it was _my fault._ I can't just walk away! I can't just _get over it_. I don't know how you people handle the death of a friend, or a comrade, or whatever, but I can't just. . . just _deal_ with it," I ranted, swinging my weapon dangerously for emphasis.

He cocked his head to the side and watched, waiting for me to finish my tirade. I found his silence even more infuriating.

I took a breath and continued. "At least don't pretend this is something it isn't! I'm nothing but fodder! I'm not a warrior. I just asked for this thing so I could live a little longer, but now I don't care! If I die in here, maybe I'll have made it up to her, to them. So use me as bait, fucking kill me afterwards, I don't even—I don't fucking care anymore," I muttered, staring directly at his chest so I didn't have to look in that impassive mask.

There was a long pause, each heartbeat making me more and more horrified at what I'd just done. How would he even react? Would he just kill me now?

His movement made me look up at him. He extended his hand and set it down on top of my head. I glowered and assumed he was patronizing me, but then he chittered something and turned to motion at the dead drone I had slain. For a moment I just stared at it, then I looked back up at him.

"Yeah, so?" I muttered.

He let his hand fall from my head to my shoulder and then took a step back, straightened his spine, and then thumped his closed fist against his chest. I watched him, brow knitted, then looked back to the dead drone.

The one I had killed. By myself. Without his help.

My eyes widened slightly and I looked up at him, really taking in the way he was facing me, holding his fist to his chest, the heavy weight of his hand on my shoulder. . . was he acknowledging this as some sort of feat?

I suppose in a way it was. The only things I'd killed so far were a bunch of unborn facehuggers, a couple live ones, and two chestbursters. None of them were particularly capable of defending themselves, they were just super obnoxious. Any drones I'd come across I'd either run from or Wolf had killed for me.

This was my first real solo kill.

"But—aren't you upset I'd killed that little one? I'd. . . I'd just been so angry, and I didn't think about it," I muttered, lifting my hands to look at them.

Wolf said something incoherent. It sounded like a statement, a single word, but it wasn't the sound I'd associated with either "yes" or "no". It was longer, but the meaning was lost entirely on me. I frowned and closed my eyes, assuming the worst. "I'm sorry."

"Nichole."

I looked up sharply, startled. That voice—it had been Michelle's. For a moment I had thought—but it was just Wolf standing there, looking at me expectantly. I quickly blinked away the tears and had to remind myself that he knew not what he did to me, though I wanted to punch him for it.

"What?" I asked warily.

He lifted his fist, wrist rotated slightly. I stared at him for a moment, confused, until he urged me on by twitching his arm slightly. For a couple more heart beats I wasn't sure what he wanted, so I just lifted my own arm, shadowing the way he held his wrist out. It seemed like it was the right thing to do, because he nodded and bumped his wrist against mine.

Realization washed over me and I made an O shape with my mouth. It was like a fist bump.

I narrowed my eyes slightly, but couldn't stifle the smile. "So. . . we're cool, then? I mean, you're not mad." Somehow I didn't think he'd understand what "cool" meant in this context.

He nodded and turned away from me to look at the drone. He stared at it for a moment, then grabbed it by its tails and dragged it across the ground, away from the wall. It rolled on its side when he nudged it with his foot, and I wondered what he was doing.

"What's your name?" I asked. For some reason the question brought a heat to my face.

He paused for a second, then rattled off something I couldn't quite follow. He must have read my expression, though, because he repeated it again, a little slower this time.

I did my best to imitate the sounds he made, but that was basically impossible. I gave it two tries, and then when he started laughing at me I just gave up. I felt a blush creep across my face and I grumbled to myself. "Fuck it—I'm going to call you Wolf. Is that okay? Wolf?"

Once his deep, rolling laugh petered out, he just nodded his head.

"Alright then, Wolf. . . what now?"

My new comrade—well old, but I didn't really feel like I was comrade-worthy until now—turned and motioned toward the dead thing on the ground. I stared at it, then looked up at him and just shook my head, not understanding. He cocked his own head to the side, then kneeled down by it and motioned for me to move by the wall. I stared at him, looked around, then sighed and sat down by the wall to wait for him to finish whatever.

The body was shifted as he looked it over. After a moment, he pulled out a short knife and started cutting off the head or something. I couldn't see very well while he was sitting in my line of vision. I shook my head and sighed. "Do we have time for this? What if something else comes by and tries to eat us?"

Wolf just glanced at me, then shook his head and continued his work. I pursed my lips, but decided not to argue. This was his hunt, not mine. If he wanted it to go on all night and into the morning, then whatever. I was just here for the ride. I had no desire to get out of here anymore, so the longer I could stall facing my friends' parents, my own parents—fuck, _the whole town_, the better.

I ended up lying down on my side. I was absolutely exhausted and I felt like I was going to pass out if something exciting didn't happen any time soon. The only thing keeping me going was the thrill of staying alive, and breaks like these just made my whole body ache.

The acid burn on my back still smarted. I had to shift to lay comfortably, but I was tired enough that the pain didn't keep me from closing my eyes.

Didn't keep me from drifting off.

*:･ﾟ✧

A loud growl startled me out of my slumber and I sat up straight. I rubbed at my bleary eyes, blinking in the darkness. It was warm, it was dark. . . I just wanted to sleep. But Wolf wanted my attention, and we still had to kill some giant beast thing so he could get a promotion. Wished he would just hurry it up.

"Hmm?" I hummed, trying to focus long enough to see what he wanted to show me. How long had I slept for?

The drone wasn't completely gutted like I'd expected, just parts of it cut up and its head detached. I had no real idea of how he done any of that. The skull was a little mangled, parts of the spine were missing. . . . I wished I had paid attention, but the short nap I had taken was probably more important than my curiosity.

It would be disastrous if I was too tired when the time came to kill the queen alien.

I examined the dead body from where I sat, wondering what he was doing, then looked up. He was holding something in his hand, and I forced my eyes to focus on it in the dark. A small, barely developed little skull was dangling from a leather thong, a few pieces of vertebrae and teeth lining it on either side. It looked like. . . a necklace? Maybe?

"Are these. . . ." I lifted my hand tentatively, waiting for a rebuke, but when it didn't come I gently took the little skull in my hand. It looked like a tiny little chestburster head. I glanced up at him, unsure what to think. "Like. . . _my_ trophies?"

He nodded and thrust his hand forward, insisting I take it. I rubbed my fingers against my palms, almost a little nervous to be touching weird alien bones, but I didn't want to be rude so I accepted the trinket. Clean and almost perfectly bleached. . . how had he managed to do this on the field? Did he just keep his fancy high-tech skinning and bleaching technology with him wherever?

And why did he make _this_ trinket, instead of something else? That room had been mounted with heads as trophies, so why. . . . ?

The head was obviously too big to take, I realized, and he probably knew it would be better if I wasn't lugging around an alien skull and mounting it on my wall. Aliens tended to be secretive about their existence, right? A small thing like this, though. . . he must have thought that was okay.

I ran the skull over in my hand, wondering where he'd picked up this thing. It wouldn't be just some random thing he'd found or killed. Like the vertebrae and teeth from the drone I'd slain, it would be something I'd killed. But I thought they didn't really condone that kind of thing. . . so which one was it? It couldn't have been the one I'd killed in the first egg room, the one that bit me, because I didn't think he'd go back that far just for this thing. . . .

My eyes widened and I rubbed my index finger over the smooth forehead. "Is this. . . from. . . ." I almost couldn't make myself say it. It felt like my throat was going to swell shut if I tried. I took a steadying breath and looked up at him. "From when my friend. . . ?"

When had he had the time? The last thing I knew was he'd left when I couldn't recover fast enough from the loss of my friends. Well—that wasn't entirely true. He'd just gone invisible. How long had he stood there, watching me? Had he picked up the dead body and cleaned it after I'd run off? I just couldn't understand.

He nodded his head, and I tried to keep the horror off of my face.

Tried to stop myself from hurling the thing down the hallway in disgust.

This was his way of saying he was sorry, that he held some sort of sympathy for me. Or maybe this was just custom in his culture. I didn't know why, I didn't know what it would be for. It was the centerpiece of this trophy, instead of the kill I'd made solo. Obviously it meant something to him, and he thought it would mean something to me.

But to me, it didn't mean quite the same thing.

How could he know that it would just be a constant reminder of my mistakes? Of the death of my best friend and the others?

Anger battled with grief. He hadn't meant this to hurt me. My fingers tightened around the little strap holding the trinket together and I chewed on my bottom lip, fighting tears. I was touched at the gesture as well as infuriated by it.

But I was good at this.

I had years and years of terrible Christmas presents, mediocre birthday gifts. . . . I had practiced false gratitude all my life. It was just an open wound, that was all. I should have been honored that he thought it important enough to make something out of. He was honoring my friend, in his own alien way, and I had to try to respect that.

So I forced down the initial, gut-wrenching reaction, and tried to see it for what it was: a testament to all that had happened to tonight. A reminder that I was stronger than I thought, and that Jess's death hadn't gone unpunished.

Even though I thought I had broken some sort of rule by killing this thing, wolf obviously didn't care or thought it had been justified in some way or another. Maybe it was just the fact that I was human and didn't know any better. I didn't know, I would probably never know. I would just use this as a grim reminder and a warning—don't repeat my past mistakes.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and looked up at Wolf. Somehow I managed a smile, and I nodded. My voice was hoarse when I spoke. "Thank you. It means a lot to me."

Wolf squared his shoulders and grumbled something incoherent. He was already on his feet, and he heaved me up by the back of my shirt as well so we were both standing. I protested dimly at the manhandling, but still steadied myself and straightened my shirt.

However, he stopped short for a second and left me to wallow in self-pity and unjustified anger while he looked over the marred skin of my back. I winced as he gently drew a claw over it, but in the end he didn't seem concerned. He checked the scratches on my arm, quietly chittering to himself, most likely about how fragile I was compared to him, or maybe my lack of armor. Whatever it was, he seemed slightly irritated.

But, obviously he didn't think they were life-threatening because he didn't treat them.

"So I'm going to live?" I asked, my voice flat even though I'd meant to be humorous. He nodded his head and I sighed.

When he turned his back to lead me down the hallway, I did what I thought would please him—tied the little necklace-trinket around my neck. The last thing I wanted was to insult this guy, even though the thing was all kinds of morbid. Maybe I'd learn to like it. The wound was still too fresh, but I absolutely could not deny how thoughtful it was of him.

Before he could get too far ahead, I bent down to pick up my weapon and jogged after him.

The necklace bounced heavily against my sternum and I touched my fingers to it to keep it still. Despite the morbid reminder, I was a little honored. This was him telling me I wasn't bait, maybe not quite an equal, but I was _worth_ _something_.


	12. Serpentine

**Hello readers!**

**Somehow I managed to get this done on time. Ish. I wish I could say it's because I'm busy but I'm not so I have no excuse except laziness and Diablo 3 haha. **

**Hopefully my laziness can be overcome and I'll have the next chapter done for you on Wednesday! **

**~ Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Eleven<p>

Serpentine

The ship had fallen silent except for an ominous screaming somewhere in the bowels. It echoed through the corridors and raised the hair on the back of my neck. Something about it was familiar, but quite unlike the screeches I had become accustomed to. Something about it seemed angry.

But that was it as far as sounds were concerned.

Nothing stirred in the hallways. No drones, no chestbursters, not even a stray facehugger skittered along the ground.

"Where'd everything go? Did we kill them all?" I asked, allowing myself just a little bit of hope. After a while the bouncing of the weird trophy-necklace Wolf had made irritated me enough that I tucked it under my shirt, though it stretched the material slightly.

Wolf, however, made no indication that I was right or wrong.

Sighing, I just trudged after him with my weapon held the way he had showed me. It felt strange, but I was getting used to it. From time to time when I thought Wolf wasn't looking, I'd turn my wrist to a more natural, resting position, but he'd always turn and make to smack me for it. Made me wonder if he had eyes in the back of his head like my parents did.

I wasn't sure why it mattered so much. What did it matter _how_ I was holding it so long as I still hacked something apart?

Last thing I wanted was to make him mad, though, so I just did it anyway.

If it made me kill aliens better, then so be it.

He lead us expertly through the halls, me following along behind him. The first few twists and turns had me tense and ready for action, but the longer we went without seeing anything, the more I relaxed and the less jumpy I was.

But the further we travelled, the louder that strange screeching became. When it started to sound like it was right around the next corner, I became tense again. It was definitely louder, definitely sounded bigger, and kind of sounded a little _meaner_, if that was even possible. It might have just been my mind trying to psyche me out.

"What's the plan?" I whispered, taking a hold of my weapon with both hands and holding it close to my chest.

Wolf turned, then growled and pulled my hand by the wrist until I was back in position.

"Stop that!" I groaned, pulling away.

He chittered a sharp reprimand, and then he cuffed my ear with an open hand. It wasn't particularly painful, but entirely irritating.

I grunted and swung my arm into the right position. "Stop hitting me!"

There was another moment while we just stared at each other—well I glared, I had no real idea what he was doing with his face, if he had one—then he nodded his approval and turned away from me. Soon as his back was turned I waved my middle finger at him and thought about just running him through with the blade, but figured that wasn't in my best interest.

Well, I'd just have to focus all of that anger on the _other_ aliens on this ship.

"Do you even know where we're going?" I demanded instead.

Though he didn't look back at me, he just lifted his hand and motioned for me to keep walking. My shoulders slumped and I sighed. I'd just have to be patient, but I was running out of that. I was tired, every single part of my body hurt, and I was emotionally spent.

Just a little bit longer. Kill the queen and hopefully this whole thing would be over.

Though the longer I thought about it, the more I wondered what exactly that would mean for me. Could I go back to my life once this was over? Would I be able to just say "welp thanks for all the help, I'll be going now" and then walk back to Estes Park and go to sleep?

Would I be able to face _anyone_ once I was back? So far as I knew I was the only survivor. Would I find more, or was I really the last?

Besides all of that. . . would I be seen as a hero, or would I be I blamed for all of this? Would Jess and Michelle's parents hate me? Would the school hate me? I wasn't sure that I wanted to find out. The best thing I could hope for was dying in a blaze of glory.

Or. . .

No. That was probably out of the question.

Without realizing it, I'd spaced out. It wasn't until Wolf put up a hand and I ran into him that I snapped out of it. I glanced up sharply and looked around for the danger, but Wolf was standing stock still, staring down the hall.

"What—" He cut me off by holding his hand up again and I pursed my lips.

After a moment I realized that the screeching had stopped. Silence had fallen over this part of the ship, making my pulse sound like roars in my ear.

The nervousness returned and I started to lift the blade up to my chest, but when Wolf turned his head a few centimeters, as if to watch me, I blushed and held it in the right position—away from my body slightly, blade turned in for quick slicing.

Another brief moment and Wolf was leading us forward again. He extended his wrist blades and moved with calculated steps, slow and prepared. It made my heartbeat quicken.

He turned slightly to look at me, then indicated to a barely visible opening in the wall—a door. I leaned a little bit to see it better, then looked up at him and nodded. He turned away again, and this time he completely disappeared from view.

My stomach dropped to my feet and I glanced around. "Where—don't leave me." I was sickened with how pathetic I sounded.

From across the hall I saw a flash of light—it looked like a pair of eyes.

Wolf.

I sighed in relief and quietly inched toward the open door. The closer I got, the more I realized that it wasn't just a regular door, but a big bay door that lead to some sort of loading dock. It looked like it had been closed before, but something had broken through it. It was a small gap, big enough for a drone to get through, and that was probably it.

The big hole was broken inward—the drones had broken _into_ the room, but then how did anything get out of the ship to infect people with? How had that first Facehugger crawled out into the woods to infect whatever poor sap had stumbled upon the ship first?

Maybe it found a hole and squeezed through.

With the door not completely open, I felt a little safer inching toward the hole and peering inside. It was much darker in that room than any other, but I thought I saw shapes moving in the darkness. I squinted, but the light from in the hall was too bright to see into the shadows.

I straightened up and looked around for Wolf. "I can't see in there, are there lights?" I asked the empty air.

A few seconds later, just when I was about to question whether or not he was even still there, a dim light flickered on. It seemed there wasn't anything bright in this ship, and I wondered if his kind could see perfectly well in the dark and used the lights for something else.

But _I_ needed the light, and this dim red glow was only barely sufficient.

And when the lights illuminated that dark loading bay, I poked my head out around the wall and tried to soak in as much as I could before being spotted. "Thanks," I whispered quietly, hoping Wolf was close enough to hear.

Dead center in the room, a huge beast sat. It looked just like the hologram that Wolf had shown, with hide of pitch black. It was a lot larger than I had imagined, as was its grotesque egg sack. The egg sack was hooked up to some sort of shackle, and the eggs were deposited onto a rotating table. Occasionally a shock of electricity would make the egg sack contract, and out an egg would pop. Right now the table was full, but a drone came by and shuffled some of them away to a little pile they were making off in the corner.

There were _a lot_ of drones, too. Well, more than I'd seen together at any one point in time. Not quite a dozen, but maybe ten? They were all tending to piles of eggs. I thought they would have moved them all out to the nests, but maybe after I'd destroyed those two groups the queen had decided not to risk losing any more.

At first I didn't think she was awake, but then her large head swung and she snarled out some sort of command. She sat high up on the egg sack, her crown nearly touching the ceiling despite how tall it looked from where I was. The drones skittered around her, doing whatever she bade.

I pulled away from the opening and pressed myself up against the wall, my eyes wide. She was huge, and she was _hooked up_ to the ship. . . the room looked like it was made for her to be in there. I glanced around to see if I could see Wolf, but of course I couldn't. "You did this—on purpose? You landed this ship here and set them loose in my mountains so you could _hunt_?"

The fact that I hadn't put two and two together earlier made me angry. Sure it hadn't looked like the ship had crash landed, but it just hadn't ever crossed my mind. Maybe because I hadn't wanted it to.

He was invisible, though, so I couldn't see his reaction. Nor did he make any sounds.

"Your silence is incriminating," I muttered.

These monsters obviously needed a host to breed effectively, but why _us_? Why not some other planet with some other species? Surely there were other compatible hosts on other planets?

Right now that was the least of my problems. I took a deep breath and tried to push the thought out of my head. There would be no sense in getting angry about it because Wolf wouldn't care. He was a predator, I was just slightly above sheep, so he wasn't about to lose any sleep over _my _opinion.

Sighing, I leaned in to get a look inside the big room again, but just as I did the doors slid open with a heavy sliding sound. The bits of bent metal scraped against the floor and I pulled my head away, gasping quietly. I winced and recoiled away from the horrendous sound and flinched when sparks flew in my direction.

"A little warning would have been nice!" I hissed through clenched teeth.

He still didn't feel inclined to reveal himself and I wondered if I was supposed to be the bait again. I waited a few more seconds, then quickly dipped my head to take a quick peak. When I pulled back and wasn't immediately bombarded with screeches, I took a deeper breath and then leaned in to look proper.

Everything was turned to face the now-open door. I froze in place, mouth slightly open, and there were a few moments where we were all just staring at each other.

The queen's lips pulled back into a silent snarl. The muscles in my legs tensed and my fingers tightened their grip on my weapon's hilt. I started to back away, but something shoved me hard enough to make me stumble away from the wall and partly into the room.

My eyes widened and I turned toward the source, even though he was invisible. "You son of a bitch, why—"

Anything else I wanted to say was cut off by an outraged screech. It startled me and I jumped about ten feet in the air before I crouched down and held my weapon out. Apparently all of those times getting smacked upside the head had the effect Wolf had desired, because I fell almost instinctively into the correct pose.

Oh that's right. I was playing bait.

The drones swarmed, forming a little barricade in front of their queen. They screeched and squealed, but they didn't make a move immediately, just watched.

Until the Queen raised her head and gave a commanding snarl.

Then chaos broke out.

Under different circumstances I would have run for it. Every instinct I had was telling me to run, but I forced my legs to keep me rooted. I wasn't alone. At the very most I'd be dealing with maybe two of these things, right? No way he'd make me fight them all off on my own.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins and sent my heart racing. Blood roared in my ears and I lifted the weapon just a little bit, preparing for them.

A blue light flashed by my head. I could feel the heat and strands of my hair were disturbed by its passing. I blinked and stumbled to the side, ducking down instinctively. One of the front line aliens exploded in a spray of acid, but it didn't deter the rest of the drones. They leaped over the fallen, and two more shots rang through the air, decimating two more drones.

But that still left about seven and they were now too close to make them _explode_ without dousing either of us in acid.

Any they were on us.

Wolf had already dispelled his cloak and was next to me, his wrist blades extended. I tried to match his confident posture, but I was trembling. The first drone reached me and I swung, just how Wolf had shown me. It felt foreign, but it produced results. I cleaved the thing's head in two, but I wasn't fast enough to back-swing and catch the second one. It slammed directly into my side, driving the air from my lungs, and I was thrown across the floor.

Though I couldn't get into any sort of position to hack at it, and I was loathe to stab it like the last one that had burned a hole in my shoulder, I did the next best thing. I twisted myself around until I could move my arm freely and slammed the hilt of my blade against the creature's head. The hard chitin remained strong, but the blow was enough to send it reeling.

With its weight sort of lifted off of me, I turned on my back so I could kick the monster off of me with both of my legs. It screeched and tumbled away, already off-balance from the blow to the head.

Before I could stand, I saw another drone bearing down on me. I let out a frustrated sound and struck blindly, in terrible technique, and caught the drone across the chest with my blade. It staggered back, tail lashing and acid blood dripping from the wound. It gave me just enough time to get into a crouch, but only barely.

Both drones were already recovered. They screeched and advanced on me, driving me back a couple of steps. One lunged through the air while the other was slinking toward me on the ground. I tried to time the first drone's landing, then started swinging at it.

Something else hit it, driving it sideways through the air. It squealed in surprise and my blade cut through nothing but air. I backpedalled along the wall, gleaning a sense of security by having something at my back, and tried to look for the second drone. When I couldn't immediately find it, I started to panic. Another quick scan revealed that Wolf had a hold of it by the tail. He swung it around, slammed it into a drone in mid-leap, then killed both with one shot from his shoulder-mounted cannon.

So then what happened to—

A snapping sound caught my attention and I looked over sharply. Across the room a few yards there was a broken net and a bleeding alien. Not only was it bleeding from the gash in its chest, but a grid-pattern wound across its head also oozed some blood. Had that net. . . ? I didn't see how, maybe it was just made out of sharp wire or something.

I turned to check on Wolf, but he was locked in combat with the last two. As much I wanted to watch his fight, the checkered drone was coming for me. I widened my stance and waited for it to come, but a large black shape swiped it to the side and gave off a shrill cry.

Startled, I pressed myself against the wall and stared at the Queen as she bore down. One squeal, followed by another shriek, told me that Wolf finished off the other two drones, leaving the Queen and the checkered alien alone in that room of eggs. The last drone shrieked and circled around its queen's back, stalking like a tiger.

The Queen straightened and turned her body completely to face us, and Wolf edged closer to my side. Her tail swung in a wide arch, knocking over a piece of equipment. She stood erect like a t-rex, solid and lithe, and looked ten times scarier when she wasn't attached to her egg sack.

Her lips drew back to reveal shiny fangs, and then she roared an angry challenge and charged.


	13. Able to Fight

**Hello readers! **

**I got a head start with this chapter so I'm feeling pretty good about it! Hopefully you guys will, too uwu Be sure to check my author's page for a list of songs and even some trivia about the story! See you all on Monday with Chapter Thirteen!**

**~ Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Twelve<p>

Able to Fight

Even with Wolf there next to me, it was still hard not to run from the behemoth charging at us. My legs jerked, trying to get me to move, but it was like being stuck in the headlights of a semi-truck. I couldn't move, even as she was close enough to trample me.

A strong hand gripped the collar of my shirt and yanked me to the side. The fabric was already compromised from the acid melting it, so it tore a little more when Wolf pulled on it.

At least it hadn't fallen off yet. It wasn't quite _that _destroyed.

I stumbled toward him, pulled slightly off of my feet, and the Queen charged passed us and slammed head-first into the open door. Pieces of the material crashed down on her, but she just backed up and shook off the debris, swinging her head around to find us.

Wolf spun me around and set me up straight on my feet. When he let go of me, I staggered to keep my balance, then took a breath.

Had to focus.

Life or death here.

The Queen turned her body toward us and we both had to jump back to avoid her dangerous tail as it arched through the air near us.

"What's the plan?" I asked, glancing at Wolf from the corner of my eyes.

His response was to cloak. I felt my jaw hit the floor and I turned, looking wildly around for him, but he was gone. I took a few fearful steps back, but I felt his hand grip my arm and steady me. He was with me. I only took a little bit of solace in that fact.

My breathing started to come more rapidly, close to hyperventilating. I knew I was bait, but did I really have to be bait _now_? Couldn't the Queen still tell he was around?

The air rippled as Wolf took off somewhere. At first I thought I would have to deal with the Queen alone, but she turned her head sharply to follow him, and then she stomped in the same direction, screeching in challenge.

So—wait—what now?

A weight was thrown into me and I screamed. The floor came up hard and I slammed into it, driving the air from my lungs. My head smacked hard onto the crust-covered floor and stars broke out into my vision.

The last drone—how could I have forgotten?

I fought to focus my mind and blink away the blurry vision. A headache had already exploded in my skull, making my pulse throb against my temples. Now was not the time though. I had to get up, had to get ready to fight—

Before I could get my weight onto my knees, something yanked on my ankle and I sprawled out on the ground again, slamming my shoulder into the ground to keep from landing on my chest. I was certain there was going to be a bruise there later, but just add it to the rest of the bruises and cuts and _burns_ that I had sustained. Then I was being dragged across the bumpy floor.

And my weapon was being left behind.

"No no no no no no!" I muttered, scrambling at the ground and reaching for the blade. It slipped out of arm's reach and the panic settled in.

But I couldn't panic. Not now. I grit my teeth and turned slightly, just enough to see the drone. It was dragging me over to some eggs, and I wondered if it meant to start the implanting process. I didn't have much time, so I flipped over and kicked at its hand until I landed a blow hard enough for it to recoil and let me go.

I got to my feet as fast as I could and made a bee-line for my weapon. Though I slipped a few times on wet slime, I kept moving forward. When it was within reach, I practically dove on top of it, but the checkered drone dove on top of me, too.

The weight forced me flat on the ground, but I had the blade. I fumbled with it, trying to grab the hilt, but the drone was scratching and screeching in my ears and I still couldn't concentrate.

When it started to drag me again, I grabbed any part of the weapon I could and swung backwards at an awkward angle. It caught the creature in the arm and cleaved it straight off, but the blade bit into my palm and I dropped it almost immediately, hissing through clenched teeth. As quickly as I dropped it, though, I scooped it back up by the hilt and tried to ignore the blood seeping down my wrist and the stinging pain.

Checkers hissed and squealed, pulling its stubby arm into its chest. I staggered to my feet, holding up my weapon, and waited for its move. Blood dripped copiously from the wound I'd made, and I wasn't very keen on getting anywhere near that.

It turned its head and bared its fangs at me, tail lashing behind it. As it inched closer, I moved back. A crash somewhere to my left startled me, and I looked away for just second when I heard a familiar roar. Wolf was squaring off with the Queen, arms up in a display of aggression. He had a myriad of new cuts and some discoloration in areas—probably bruises. The Queen had her back to me, but she had my comrade backed into a corner.

"Wolf!" I gasped, leaning forward to run to him.

However, Checkers screeched, demanding my attention, and lashed out at me with its tail. I turned my attention back to it and had barely enough time to recoil away from the barbed tail. I swung my blade at the same time, basically out of instinct, and jumped away when a chunk of tail skittered across the floor.

The drone screeched in pain and recoiled, giving me a chance to move in with my blade up. Chekcers turned its slick head in my direction and wailed, flinging its tail around. Blood arched through the air and I hit the ground, ducking under the blood and gasping. I wriggled to avoid any more splashes, but my pant leg started to hiss and smoke. I used the giant knife to cut the piece off and flung it as far as it would go, clenching my fist after accidentally touching part of it. My fingertips burned, but not near as bad as my shoulder had.

I rubbed my fingers on the ground, using the slime, trying to keep my head up and keep track of my opponent. Checkers seemed just as wary to approach me as I was it. Its nubbed tail was poised over its body, as if it had realized it could keep me away with just the threat of being sprayed with acid.

With neither of us wanting to get particularly close, we were at an impasse. I had to find some way to kill it, though, so I could go help Wolf. Every time I glanced in his direction, it seemed like they were evenly matched. He had managed somehow to get out of that corner, and the Queen looked like she was bleeding in a few spots.

At least she wasn't the only one getting in some shots.

My pulse was beating against my skull and chest, but the adrenaline kept me thinking at least semi-clearly. I edged around the drone, glancing around my surroundings. There had to be something I could use, anything. . . .

Mostly I wanted to call out to Wolf. I stopped myself several times, though I got so far as opening my mouth. He had his own problem. Bigger problems.

I could handle this drone. . . I just had to figure it out.

But how was I going to kill it if I couldn't get close to it? How did it expect to do the same?

For a brief moment I thought about throwing my weapon at it. Maybe I'd impale it and be done. However, I didn't trust myself not to miss and once disarmed, that would be the end of it. It just wasn't the kind of gamble I wanted to make.

We circled each other like two cats. One of us was just going to have to break the cycle. Why did I have the feeling it was going to be me?

Motivation came from across the room. Motivation or a distraction, I wasn't really sure. Wolf's roar echoed through the big room and I turned to look—Wolf was on the floor, but at least trying to get to his feet. The Queen was opposite him, about ten yards, and had his wrist blades stuck in her crown, torn straight out of his gauntlet. He wasn't unarmed, at least, with his large spear in hand.

But he needed his own distraction, and I was stuck here with this drone—

Screeching turned me back to my own fight. It startled me into taking a step backwards, and I saw Checkers coming at me. The thing knew I had been distracted, and it took its chance. I had enough time to fall on my ass before it was on top of me. I cried out and thrust my weapon upward, chipping off Checkers' shoulder spine, but it twisted and wrenched the blade from my hand.

It skittered across the ground, bouncing into a piece of machinery.

"Shit!"

The thing scraped its claws across my face and I cried out in pain, kicking wildly. I managed to land a lucky blow and sent the thing reeling, but before I could scramble to my feet and get to the weapon, it jumped on top of me again. Snarling, I groped around with one hand while using the other to push the drones head away from my face and came up with nothing but a handful of dried-up slime. I pulled the fistful of crust away from the ground, then shoved it hard into the drone's mouth.

Checkers reared back, scrabbling at its mouth with its one good hand. I slipped out from under it and sprinted toward my abandoned weapon. I knew that little stunt wasn't going to distract it for long—I could already hear its claws behind me—but I prayed it would be long enough.

I was within reach. I fell to my knees and picked it up. Just as soon as it was in my hand, I swung wildly back in an arch. Checkers screamed and I heard sliced flesh. Then I was on my feet, turned to face it. The drone had a new cut on his head, and he was backing up.

No more playing chicken. I lunged toward Checkers as it swung its tail, but by now the bleeding had stopped and nothing splashed at me. Putting all my weight into this one lunge, I drove the blade through the top of the drone's head, all the way up to the hilt. It slumped almost immediately and I crouched there on my knees, panting, still holding the blade.

There wasn't enough time in the world to catch my breath. The Queen was making a terrible cacophony of noises—not that she hadn't been this whole freaking time—and I frantically searched around for Wolf and the beast.

It didn't seem like they were making any progress. He was dodging her tail and leaping just out of the way of her head. It was like an awkward dance—one would make a move, the other would trot out of the way. She was missing a chunk of her crown, Wolf was bleeding from a deep puncture in his shoulder. I was glad that I had decided not to call out to him for help.

If I wanted to get out of here any time soon, though, I was going to have to do my job.

I looked around, then yanked the blade out of the ground. It took a few times with me throwing my entire weight into it, but eventually it pulled free and I stumbled back. I managed to stay on my feet and made a furtive run around the sides of the room.

For the eggs.

So far that had worked pretty well. If nothing else, at least I'd be doing God's work while destroying them.

At first I wasn't sure the most effective way of doing this, but then I decided it didn't have to be pretty. I started hacking, chopping, and slicing my way through the eggs, but when I didn't immediately hear an outraged scream from the Queen, I stopped in mid-chop and looked up to see what was so much more important than the mutilation of her offspring.

Wolf went sliding across the ground and I made a startled sound somewhere between a scream and being strangled. The Queen followed after him, snarling and I stood up a little straighter.

"Hey! Hey bitch!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, jumping up and down. She squealed and turned to face me, body heaving with the effort of coming to a sudden stop. Her unseeing head extended slightly and she bared her fangs at me.

I stared back, suddenly unsure of where I was going with this, partially frozen under her gaze.

So I just chopped another egg in half. Why stop now?

She reared back and let out a terrible cry of pain and anger that made me start violently. It was the kind of sound that filled me with dread. I had just made a terrible enemy—not that she wasn't already an enemy, but before it was just because I was _there. _Now I'd made her angry. Now I'd created some sort of grudge monster.

I stepped back and clutched my weapon—that suddenly felt tiny and useless in my hands—in a way that would have made Wolf smack me; both hands on the hilt, pressed against my chest in fear.

Her head swept right then left, as if taking in the rest of the eggs, and then she roared and charged me. My breath caught in my throat and I stumbled backwards. I wound up tripping over an egg and fell flat on my ass.

Every uncertainty I'd felt, every insecurity, played across my mind. What was I doing? I wasn't a fighter. I wasn't some sort of warrior. When I played soccer I wasn't on the front lines, I was in the back between some goal posts. It was nothing short of a miracle that I had lasted this long. How was I going to fight this thing off?

There was no way I was going to be able to do this.

Why was I even trying? Now I was just going to get eaten, or skewered. . . .

She stopped at the edge of the egg nest she'd created and stepped around them, somehow still managing to bear down on me with all the power of a train. I lifted my weapon and got ready to defend myself, drive it into her skull or something, but something snapped into view and wrapped around the Queen's arm. She was pulled into the ground and smashed into several of the eggs.

I had to leap to my feet and sprint out of the way to avoid being crashed into. Wolf was off to the side, holding a—was that a whip? He yanked on it hard and the Queen's arm came _clean off_. She screeched in pain and struggled to get up, meanwhile Wolf flourished the whip, then cracked it when she turned her head toward him, slicing a deep gouge in her exposed throat. I thought for sure that would be a fatal blow, but she was on her feet.

And she was angry.

The Queen's tail arched and she turned slightly to the side, fighting range with range. She lashed out to stab at Wolf, but he moved back and snapped the whip, making her draw it back with a fresh wound. If she hadn't swept it out of the way, he probably would have sliced it off.

For a brief moment I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing. He seemed to have the upper hand now, though I wondered why he didn't just end it quick with that shoulder-mounted cannon. A closer look revealed that it was missing. Had he lost it one of those times he was laid out? Did he abandon it for a more challenging fight?

I swept my gaze across the big room, looking for the weapon. I had to skulk around the edges, sticking close to the wall. The Queen made it hard to see as she darted around, avoiding the bite of Wolf's whip.

But then I spotted it, near the center of the room. The occasional sparks had brought my attention to it, and I was beginning to think that it was knocked off of him.

He had plenty opportunity to get to it, so why didn't he? The only thing I could think was that he wanted it this way. Maybe it would be too destructive, anyway. He wanted the Queen's head, so he was going to have to make sure it was _intact_ when he. . . did whatever.

Despite being absolutely terrified to the point of shaking, I still felt like there was something I should be doing to help. Part of me understood that this would have to be his fight, but surely there _something_ I could do? Cut off her tail, or distract her again. . . ? Could he kill her with just a whip? I didn't see his spear anywhere. . . did he lose that?

My fingers gripped the blade in my hand I glanced at it sharply. I could give him this. . . he'd lost his wrist blades in the Queen's crest, he'd need a slicing weapon.

There it was. My reason for existing.

Get this giant knife-sword to some alien warrior so he could chop the head off of an alien parasite. What a time to be alive.

Still, I grasped on to that little bit of meaning and my grip tightened not out of fear, but resolve. I stalked around the edge of the room, watching and waiting. Wolf continued to lash with the whip, and the Queen continued to sustain more and more wounds. Her gait faltered several times, and her head drooped. By the amount of smoke covering the floor, I figured she had lost quite a bit of blood. Wolf was bleeding from several spots, too, but not the copious amounts she was.

Now it was _her _backing up and trying to dodge lashes of the whip. I edged closer and closer until I was only a few feet away from Wolf. He had closed the gap between him and the Queen enough that each crack of his whip landed somewhere on his prey. She was curled and defensive, crying more than screeching. It was now or never.

"Wolf! Catch!"

He turned his head just a little bit and I did my best to toss my blade in a way he could catch it. It soared in a little arch, and at first I thought it was going to land way short, but Wolf rolled to intercept and caught it by the hilt.

The Queen turned her head toward me and I stepped back, but I had moved within her range. She squealed and lashed out with her tail, barely missing me with the spike by a few inches. The thickest part of her tail caught me in the ribs and I was thrown almost across the room, landing on the floor in a heap. The breath was knocked clean out of my lungs and I wheezed painfully, doubled over.

Recovery was a luxury I wasn't allowed quite yet, though, and I forced myself to roll and see what happened, forced myself to my knees. I kept my arms warpped over my abdomen, coughing, but I needed to see if I'd helped at all.

Wolf rolled back up to his feet and as the Queen turned her attention back to him, he spun with all the grace of a weird muscular dancer, slashing with the knife in a whirl of movements. At first I thought he'd missed, but in the time it took me to blink and wheeze in some air, the Queen twisted and fell to the floor. The force of impact made her head pop right off.

I dry heaved a little bit, but stumbled to my feet and staggered toward Wolf, holding my abdomen and still gasping. The pain was starting to subside, so I didn't think she'd broken a rib, but it would probably be bruised later.

At this point I wouldn't have been surprised if I was just one giant bruise.

"Good—kill," I said around one last cough.

He took one last look at the dead Queen, then turned to me and set his hand on my shoulder, giving it a little shake. I felt my brains knock around in my head a little bit, then glowered and stood on my toes to shove his own shoulder. For some reason he seemed _satisfied_ with that and motioned toward the drone I'd killed.

"Good kill," he repeated, though it took me a moment to realize that was what he'd said.

In his own voice.

It was rough and gravely, like the words were hard on his throat, and the mask muffled the sound, but I was certain I wasn't mistaken. It surprised me and I stared at him for a second, mouth open. I didn't think he could actually speak the language, but the fact that he was giving it a shot to give me commendation was a nice gesture. Just like the necklace.

"Oh—ah, thanks," I replied, pulling the necklace out from my shirt as I thought about it, looking it over for any damage. It wouldn't particularly tear me up if it was, but it seemed okay. One of the teeth had nicked my chest and I was bleeding, but that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. My once-gray shirt was now a muddled black-brown-red, and I had to keep adjusting the shoulder to keep it up.

Nodding, he turned to his wrist gauntlet and punched in a few notes. A display popped up that I couldn't hope to understand. He ran through a few things, and then the display disappeared just as quickly. I wanted to ask, but I figured the answer would be too complicated to pantomime.

"What now?" I asked instead, figuring that one would be easy to show.

Soon as the words were out of my mouth, the ship started to rumble and vibrate. I looked around frantically, but Wolf seemed unperturbed by it. He pulled some rope or something like a rope from the large metal pack he had strapped to his back and moved toward the decapitated head.

I wasn't going to think much about it, but then the ship started to shake. The movement caught me off-guard and I stumbled to keep my balance. "Okay what the hell?" I demanded.

All he did was glance at me before pulling the blades from the Queen's crown. He jammed them back into his gauntlet—I'd originally thought they'd broken off, but apparently that wasn't the case—and then tied a rope around the Queen's thick crown and strapped it up to him so he could drag it behind him.

"Wolf!" I snarled when the ship shook once more. Then, I started to feel that strange sensation when you're on an elevator going up. . . .

Was the ship _taking off_?


	14. An Opened Door

**Hello readers!**

**I'd like to give a little shout-out to Citrine Nebulae for helping me out with this chapter. You da real MVP! If you guys get the chance, head on over to her page and check out the AVP fanfic she started! It's called _Alkaline_. **

**Anyway! I'll get the next chapter up for you on Saturday! At least I hope so, I had an increase of hours at work, but I'll do my best!**

**~ Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Thirteen<p>

An Opened Door

"Wolf what the _fuck_ is going on?" I demanded, holding my arms out at my sides to keep my balance.

Finally the ship stopped shaking and I could stand without compensating for balance, and I could hear a muffled roar coming from all around us. Engines? Some sort of propulsion system? Were we hovering or had takeoff just smoothed out?

All he did was glance at me, then motioned for me to follow.

I thought about _not_ doing that, but figured I'd let him lead me this far, I might as well trust his judgment on whatever this was. But I couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive—was he really going to just take off like that, right after the kill? With me still _on board? _I wished he could, or would, just tell me what was going on instead of leaving me in the dark.

Wolf heaved the ropes over his shoulder and then took off at a leisurely jog. Well, maybe not quite _leisurely_, as he was lugging a giant head behind him. I watched his back for a second, then took off after him out the door and through the halls.

The very thought of going up to space with this alien made my head spin with a plethora of emotions. Fear, apprehension, maybe even anticipation. Something about not going home not only made my stomach churn, but it also felt. . .kind of right.

That meant not having to face Jess' parents. Or Michelle's.

Or my own.

It meant not having to deal with the consequences of everything that happened. Not right away, anyway. I could forget about it, throw myself into whatever adventure I was getting into.

But I couldn't get ahead of myself. I didn't know what was going on. He might have just been relocating the ship. He might have just been getting it ready for takeoff and then was going to kick me off his ship.

The only way to find out would be to follow him.

I wasn't sure which scenario I was hoping for most.

Watching the decapitated Queen head bounce and jitter made me a little queasy, but I pushed the feeling down and focused on the back of Wolf's head instead.

We only made a couple turns and then he opened up a big door and slipped inside. I ended up having to help shove the stupid head through the small gap, and that thing was still slick with all kinds of slime. Touching it made my skin crawl and my hair stand on end. Her head crest was the main issue, as it was just a little wider than the door was. It took a lot of shifting and shoving and pulling, but we got the head through.

"What are we _doing_?" I demanded. My legs felt like jello and it was taking every ounce of strength left in my body to keep me upright.

He never even so much as glanced at me and just stopped for a moment to pull up his wrist display. After punching in a few commands, a large door slid open and I was greeted with gray, pre-dawn sky and a blast of cold, fresh air.

After the door opened fully, Wolf dragged the head over and pushed it in front of the edge. I followed him over to the opening and peered over the side. The ship didn't seem to be ascending any further, just hovering over the ground about twenty feet. Below us I could see heat waves coming from underneath the ship from the propulsion system.

Suddenly I felt very about Wolf literally kicking me off the ship, so I stepped back a few paces.

Lucky for me he didn't. Instead, he stood at the very edge and unstrapped the Queen's head from around his shoulders. Wolf lifted one foot, planted it on the side of the head, then kicked it off. I couldn't hear it hit the ground over the turbines, so I once again looked over the side to see if it was okay. It didn't look broken, and now I was thoroughly confused.

The ship was certainly taking off, but we weren't going to be on it?

"What—"

I didn't even get a chance to finish the question before he was leaping over the side without a moment's hesitation. I gasped and scurried to the door to watch him, but he landed without a problem, despite the slight incline of the hill the ship had landed on, and he showed no outward signs of pain.

And there I was, stuck on the ship by myself.

He turned and looked up at me, motioning for me to come on down. I felt the color drain from my face and I stepped back, shaking my head. There was no way I could make that jump. It certainly wasn't high enough to kill me, but even I knew it wasn't going to feel good.

I moved back to the edge of the ship and shook my head. "Put the ship down and I'll come out!" I shouted down at him, trying hard to be heard over the engines.

Wolf motioned again for me to come down. I wasn't even sure if he'd heard me.

If he was trying to speak, I certainly couldn't hear him, either.

At that moment, the ship shuddered. It definitely wanted to take off, and I had a feeling that if Wolf didn't want to be on the ship, then I certainly didn't either.

Maybe he'd catch me.

There was no other way I was going to make it out of that jump without hurting myself, so that had to be it. He made it look so easy, maybe I was just making a bigger issue out of this than I should have been. The same jump hadn't hurt him, so why was I freaking out? Maybe I could dangle from the edge and make the drop shorter. . .

No, no I had to clear the engines. If I just dangled I might burn myself or something. I didn't want that either. Maybe I'd just have to suck it up. He'd catch me, probably. The hill was making me worry about how I'd land, too.

I took a deep, irritated breath, and shook my head.

"Alright I'm. . .coming. . . Christ almighty," I muttered, backing up a bit. Before I could talk myself out of it, I took the few quick steps needed to bring me to the edge, and then I jumped for it.

There were a few things I realized as soon as I was over open air: twenty feet was a ridiculous amount of space when you were no longer on solid ground; I didn't know how to land—don't lock your knees, that was about the extent of my knowledge; and Wolf wasn't paying attention.

No, he was gathering up the ropes attached to the Queen's head, and that was probably the most prominent thought on my mind right then.

He was _not_ going to catch me.

Oh.

. . . _shit._

I flailed my arms in circles, probably attempting to fly, but the ground came up quick. I was going to land all wrong. Though I bent my knees to cushion the impact, I didn't know how to land. How to turn that momentum into a roll or—what angle—shit lean forward—no, lean back?—bend your knees—

This wasn't going to—

_Snap!_

Soon as I hit the ground I knew it was all over. My legs gave out and pain shot all the way up my spine. I collapsed in a heap, my ears ringing, and tumbled part way down the hill. I knew my mouth was open, and I knew I was screaming, but all I could hear was the ring in my ears. My vision blurred and I felt close to throwing up.

Finally I stopped rolling at least when part of the hill leveled out just enough to slow my progress. I could barely move, my body seized with pain and tense to the point of hurting. It took all I had to glance at my legs to see the extent.

Blood was soaking my pant legs, a few inches above my knee. There was a tear in the fabric, and the pain was immeasurable. My breath came in shuddering gasps.

I reached out for my legs, mouth agape and a strangled noise gurgling in my throat. I was vaguely aware of Wolf running to my side, chittering rapidly, but the world turned into mush. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and then darkness swallowed me.

*:･ﾟ✧

It felt as if I had only blinked, but I knew I had been out for a little bit. I wasn't sure how long, but it was long enough that the sky had started to turn from dark gray into light pink. I no longer felt queasy, but there was a definite pain in my legs that made my whole body throb with each beat of my heart. At least my endorphins had finally kicked it.

At least the pain wasn't intense enough to make me black out again.

I was no longer on my side, instead rolled over onto my back. Part of me was pretty sure I hadn't done that, but I decided not to think about it and just sat up slowly. The pant legs around my knees were colored a muddy-red and my breath hitched. Tentatively, my teeth clenched so tight it hurt, I pulled at the tears and tilted my head to try to look at my leg through the hole. It was impossible, though, because the tear was too small and the lighting was too nonexistent.

But I knew they were broken, and that tear in my jeans. . .it made me think that they might have broken the skin.

That wasn't something I wanted to think about. Or see. Or deal with.

Maybe, though, if it was a compound fracture of that variety, Wolf had done some first aid and popped the bones back into place. What bone? The—femur, I thought.

Where was that bastard, anyway?

"Wolf?" I called warily, afraid he'd just left me alone to be found. Eventually. Maybe.

Part of me didn't want to see him. He'd fucking let me fall.

A distant boom made me duck instinctively and cover my head. Just that small motion sent a sharp jolt of pain through my body and I hissed through my teeth. I twisted at the hips to look around, then finally turned my gaze skyward when I didn't see anything in my line of vision.

What I saw was the aftermath of a huge explosion high in the sky, quarter sized. I didn't even see any parts or debris falling to the ground—just a puff of smoke and some embers.

For a moment I wasn't sure what I was looking at, then it dawned on me—the ship. Had he made it fly off so he could. . .blow it up? What did that accomplish? Was that ship really just so useless now that all it had was eggs and bodies and alien shit—oh. That's right. The Queen was dead, so wasn't that nest probably completely useless?

Maybe this was just the easiest way to dispose of a few dozen eggs in a useless hive. And the evidence of the ship ever existing in the first place. . . .

So why hadn't he left _me_ on that ship? I was a witness, so by all means he should have wanted me dead. Or—maybe it was just the technology and the bodies that needed to be disposed of. I'd obviously proven myself in some way, shape, or form, so maybe it was wrong for me to think that he'd just dispose of me like that.

So surely that meant he wouldn't just. . .ditch me in the forest with two broken legs.

"Wolf?" I called again, a little louder.

When there was no answer, I started feeling a little anxious. I didn't dare move, but I didn't think I could stay where I was, either, because I was too exposed on that empty hill without a jacket. The sun coming up wasn't making the air any warmer and my shirt was torn. I was already shivering, and I wrapped my arms around me in an attempt to stay warm.

At the very least, maybe the cold was helping to numb the pain.

The longer I waited for Wolf, the more anxious I became: how did I know he was even going to come back _at all_?

I took a few rapid breaths and mentally prepared myself for the next step—seeing if I could stand. It took several more deep breaths to steel my nerves, and then I tried to heave myself up just a little bit, just enough to bend my legs and get them underneath me.

Just the effort of flexing those muscles caused stars to erupt in my vision.

My teeth gnashed and I bit back a scream. I gave up that particular endeavor and settled back onto the ground, panting. Tears started to fall down my cheeks and I fought to stay conscious.

Now I didn't know what to do. I couldn't get up, that was for sure. I turned and tried to flip over onto my stomach so I could maybe crawl up the hill, but that hurt way too much, too. My wrist hurt, but that felt more like a sprain than anything else. Then I tried to maybe scoot on my butt down the hill, but that still required too much movement in my legs.

How did those paralyzed people _do_ it?

Instead, I leaned back into a lying position and covered my face with my hand. I tried hard to suppress the sobs, but a few escaped while I choked on my tears. After all of this, I was disabled by a fall. I was going to be done in a by a couple of broken bones.

Alone in the woods, freezing to death.

After a moment I took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to pull myself together. Someone had to come looking and—

My phone!

I sat up straight, sending another jolt of pain up my spine, and fished around for my cell phone. I had completely forgotten about it, and now it was going to keep me from dragging my sorry ass across the mountain to find home.

There it was, the familiar weight in my back pocket. I grunted and grit my teeth in pain as I shifted to pull it out between violent shivers, but it would be worth it when—

Cracked screen.

That's okay, just the screen. People had cracked screens all the time. I stared at it a moment, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then hit the button to turn it on.

Small slivers between cracked glass lit up, but for the most part it remained black and broken.

Something inside me broke and I yelled incoherently, tossing the phone as far as I could throw it. I pressed both of my hands against the sides of my head and continued to scream like an indignant child, then picked up anything that was within arm's reach and threw those, too—rocks, handfuls of dirt, weeds, sticks—nothing was safe from my wrath.

The only thing missing was a good ol' tantrum thrashing, but moving even enough to throw things was kicking my ass in the pain department.

I fell on my back hard enough for my vision to blur at the edges and I scrunched up my face, chest heaving in a strangled cry. I remained like that for a while, staring up at the slowly lightening winter sky. I tried hard to stop crying, to calm down, but it was proving difficult.

If I could just chill out long enough to think this through, I'd be okay.

At least it wasn't snowing.

A familiar masked face popped up into my vision and I started violently, racking my body with spasms of pain. I shouted and curled in, trembling and panting.

Wolf chittered an admonishment and kneeled by me, pulling my shoulder and turning me so I was on my back. I gasped and reached out for my legs with both hands, fingers shaking. They hovered uncertainly for a few moments, and then I just let them fall back to my lap.

"Why didn't you fucking catch me!" I hissed through clenched teeth. I rounded on him and lashed out with a closed fist, trying to hit any part of him I could reach.

It was easy for him to dodge the blow with a single step and he lifted his hands, palms out, and clicked rapidly in his funny little language. I understood it to be some sort of quick apology, or explanation, but that didn't help. I tried again to smack him, but just hurt myself a little bit more.

Now I was in more pain _and_ breathless, but no closer to getting any semblance of vengeance for this outrage. I waited until the throbbing stopped and then sat back up, glowering at my lap. "Whatever," I said, resigned. Wolf tilted his head to the side and rattled quietly, then approached me when I didn't continue to lash out. He kneeled back down next to me to look over my legs.

I turned to look at him, eyes narrowed. "I'd thought you left me for dead."

Wolf glanced at me, murmured something, then gripped my upper arm and started to stand, pulling me with him.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, grabbing his thick arm with both hands.

His response was another little encouraging rattle and he pulled me upward. My first instinct was to get my feet under me, but the tiniest little twitch made me gasp. "No—no I can't—"

My dead weight didn't seem to be a bother for him, even with one arm. He pulled me up and my feet dragged on the ground, making me cringe and writhe. "Stop! Stop!" I pleaded, tears streaming down my face.

When he hesitated, I almost sobbed in relief and tried to pry myself out of his grasp, but he held me tight. "They're _broken_! I can't _stand_! Please! _Please_!"

For a moment he just made a decisive clicking noise, then rumbled in his chest like an annoyed dog and gently set me back on the ground. I couldn't bring myself to let go of him, though, as if terrified that he'd actually leave me if I let him go.

Once I gained control of my breathing—as much as the cold-induced spasms would allow—I looked up at him and swallowed hard. "They need to be set. . .I'll need a splint. . . "

A rumble vibrated in his chest and he maneuvered behind me. In one fluid motion, faster than I could comprehend, he leaned forward, wrapped an arm around my midsection, and pulled me of off the ground, holding me in the crook of his arm against his side. I couldn't help the strangled screech that slipped past my lips, but he managed to do the whole thing without causing me too much undo pain.

And by "too much" I mean I didn't pass out.

I hung there, limp in his arms, legs and arms dangling. My feet barely scraped the ground as he carried me like a sack up that hill and into the forest. Every movement made me cringe just a little bit, but once we got up onto flat ground, things were easier.

Despite the small bit of comfort I felt from the heat he gave off, I felt completely undignified and a little humiliated, and I made a point of looking anywhere but at him as he carried me into the woods.


	15. One of Them

**Hello readers!**

**I just wanted to let y'all know that I have a busy week ahead of me at work so I don't know if I'll be able to get chapter fifteen up by Thursday, but I'll do my best. I also gotta work on the chapter for _Better Days_, so don't be alarmed if I don't post up the next chapter on time.**

**Big thanks to Citrine for being my editor again! You were more than a _little _help! **

**~ Crayola**

* * *

><p>Chapter Fourteen<p>

One of them

Being carried by the midsection wasn't a comfortable process, though it was certainly easier on my legs. I squirmed so much that Wolf nearly dropped me a couple times, but eventually he lugged me to the part of the forest that he'd dragged the queen's head. It was just sitting there in front of a big empty space, but there was something unnatural about that empty air.

The weeds and sticks were pressed flat and a few trees had been completely cleared away. I figured there had to be something there, probably utilizing the weird cloaking technology they had. Maybe another ship, but it was small. How small I couldn't tell without actually seeing the thing.

Wolf kicked away some rocks and sticks in a small patch on the ground and then bent his knees, lowering me down. I extended my arms until my palms were against the ground and could support some of my weight. Wolf chittered a warning, and then let me slide forward. I wasn't completely ready for it, though, and my sprained wrist buckled under my weight. Just barely I was able to turn and fall on my shoulder instead of my face.

"Son of a—you trying to break the rest of me?" I snarled into my arm, glancing back at him as he let my legs slip from his grasp and fall semi-gently to the ground.

It still made my teeth grind, but it was better than being completely dropped from where he'd been holding me. I was prone now, but I turned until I was in a sitting position with my legs stretched in front of me and I just glowered at him.

He cocked his head to the side, as if wondering why the hell I was upset.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah sure, I get it. My _face _isn't what's broken, right?"

For another moment he stared back at me, then his chest heaved and he turned toward his trophy head. I figured I should probably lay off him a bit—he seemed to be getting kind of exasperated and I didn't really want him to get irritated with me.

Who knew what he'd do.

Though the wind wasn't so bad now that we were no longer in the open, it didn't make it any warmer. I curled up the best I could with my legs and wrapped my arms around myself, shivering, and I tried to figure out what Wolf was up to with that queen's head.

Through the trees I could hear a distant buzzing, but I wasn't sure what it was. A hum? The wind whistling in the branches? It didn't seem to bother Wolf, though, and after a few minutes where it seemed to get louder, it stopped. Maybe just a ringing in my ears, or one of them forest sounds.

Wolf nudged the queen's head with his foot and then grabbed her fanned crest, rocking it to the side. In the light that thing was even more hideous with its slime-shine and strange biomechanical exoskeleton. Standing next to it, even Wolf was a slightly dwarfed, the effect doubled when he wasn't swathed in shadow and mystery like when I'd first run into him.

It didn't make him any less intimidating with his very alien, scaled green skin and strange armor. Just not as big.

He lifted his wrist after examining the queen's skull, pressed a few commands on the control pad, and then the air shimmered. With a crackle of electricity, his ship rippled into view—easily the size of a small ranch house. It looked like a smaller version of the one we'd spent most of the night in; very knife-like, but without the two side engines. It stood on the ground with three legs.

"What are you going to do with that?" I asked, looking around and rubbing my arms.

His response was incoherent at best, but I was starting to pick up on how he separated syllables. Plus, the growls and clicks were starting to sound more and more like an actual language. I attributed most of the unintelligible gibber to the mask he wore: it had to muffle a lot of what he was trying to say. I sighed, wondering why I bothered, but figured that silence would be worse.

"Well it's cold so whatever you're doing, hurry it up before I freeze to death," I said between teeth-shattering shivers.

He glanced at me and then pulled out one of his smaller blades, then crouched down and coated the tip in the Queen's acid blood. I tilted my head slightly, brow furrowed.

That didn't look like skinning.

"What are you doing?" I asked, leaning back as he approached me with that blade. I wondered if his weapons were made specifically to fight this species, or if they were just generally resistant to certain kinds of damage.

When he crouched down in front of me, holding out the acid-covered knife, I leaned way back and eyed him warily. He seemed to notice and stopped to watch me for a second, as if absorbing the uneasy way I was looking at him. He straightened his back after a brief moment of consideration and then lifted a hand to unplug some of the tubes from his mask.

That small gesture made my stomach twist as I realized he was removing the mask. I'd only known him for a short time but he'd always had that mask on, so I wasn't sure what I should expect. I found myself trembling—not just from the cold—as he fit his palm over his mask and popped it off.

My breath hitched and I felt my fingernails cut into my palm as I waited.

I wasn't sure what I had been expecting when he took that mask off. His whole body structure was functionally humanoid despite the rough skin and strange blotchy coloration, so I might have been expecting the same of his face, but I was surprised.

_Unpleasantly_.

He had a large, sloping forehead ridged with small, black spines and beady—almost human-shaped—eyes set deep into a large brow. He had no nose, but the most striking feature was the four insect- or crab-like tusked mandibles set over an open mouth lined with sharp teeth. The dreadlock-like appendages attached to his head fanned out from just underneath the spines lining his head.

In hindsight I shouldn't have been expecting a human-like face, but most alien movies I'd seen depicted aliens as bald little green or grey men with big eyes and bulbous heads, but Wolf didn't look anything like _that, _either. He was much. . .scarier.

I felt myself recoil from him slightly, but I had to remind myself that I probably didn't look like a spring chicken to him, either.

Wolf held his mask out to me and I looked from it to him and then back again before tentatively taking it from his hands. It was a heavier than the blade he'd loaned me and I had to hold it with both hands. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be looking at—the deep cracks or the strange scribbles? It looked really mad and I wasn't sure if that was on purpose or just one of those things that _was_.

A series of rattles made me look up from the mask at Wolf. It was startling how clear the syllables were now that the mask was off. I could almost make out the phrase, or word: khu'wei. It was hard to replicate, but it sounded slightly familiar, like he'd said it to me a few times.

My hand tapped the side of the mask and I looked around uneasily, but my gaze always fell to that knife. "What?"

He used his free hand to tug at the chest plate covering half of his chest—the hell kind of design was that? Was it over his heart or something? I guessed that kind of made sense—and indicated toward a scar close to where his clavicle was. It looked like a bone similar to a collar bone, anyway.

I looked at him, confused, then leaned in for a closer look. It certainly wasn't just a random scar, instead it kind of looked like one of the symbols on his helmet. The mark was slightly bigger than a silver dollar and made up of three shapes, one like a sideways V, a second one like an exclamation point tipped on its side without the dot, and the third underneath those two was kind of like an apostrophe.

"So?" I asked, looking up at him and leaning back again.

First he motioned to the mark, then let his chest plate fall back in place and lifted the knife again. I furrowed my brow and stared at it, trying to connect the dots and keep myself warm at the same time. He obviously wanted to do the same thing to me, but I couldn't figure out why he had to do it with a knife dipped in acid. Wasn't just a plain old _sharp edge_ good enough?

Having that stuff drip on me before had been horrendous, I wasn't sure I wanted him to carve a tattoo into me with it. But—it wasn't just acid, was it? It was the blood of the queen. Maybe that was the connection. Maybe it was some sort of. . .warrior marking or something?

Or maybe he was trying to brand me as his property.

I didn't fucking know.

"Is this because of the kill?" I asked, sounding more wary than I had wanted to. I'd been going for reserved curiosity but instead sounded just plain skeptical. I wasn't even sure if he understood.

However, he nodded.

Though I was sort of suspicious, I figured this alien didn't really gain anything by lying to me. If he wanted anything out of me he'd just use his plethora of muscles to do it, not trick me. I eyed the knife again for a bit, then nodded and straightened up and brushed aside the neck of my shirt, assuming he was going to put it in the same spot.

He hesitated just a moment, as if gauging my resolve. I tried my best to stop shaking, but I was cold and only getting colder, and his gaze was fierce and predatory without trying to be. It was making me uneasy. At the very least the pain in my legs had subsided to a dull ache thanks to the cold, but I knew the shivering was going to make this hurt more and maybe botch it, like how you were supposed to hold very still for a tattoo.

Finally he leaned in. I closed my eyes and held my breath all in an attempt to keep myself from shivering. When the tip of the acid-covered knife touched me, I couldn't help but jump from pain and surprise. I balled my hands into fists and willed myself to be still, though it made my whole body tense and my legs ache.

I had survived an alien hive of parasitic monsters. I could survive a silly acid tattoo.

The whole process only took a few seconds and then I was releasing my held breath with a shudder. I had to resist the urge to scratch my chest, afraid that it would ruin whatever work he'd done. I tried to look at the scar that was undoubtedly there, but all I could see was a red blotch.

Eh, my neck could only bend so far.

Though I wasn't sure what to say or do in response, I felt like I needed to say something. Words failed me, though, as I looked up at Wolf. He didn't seem bothered by it and just inclined his head and closed his eyes.

Was that—respect?

I drew in a breath and reciprocated the gesture, which seemed to please him.

"What does that mean, by the way?" I asked before he could stand. I was back to shivering. "That. . .word. Um. Kuwee?"

His chest rumbled in that familiar laugh of his and he pointed at me. "Khu'wei."

Me? I tilted my head and touched my fingertips to my chest. "Is that. . .your name for me? Like how I call you Wolf?"

Could he even understand me Eithout his mask on? I had thought that he'd required the translator. . .if it even had one. He'd obviously dealt with humans before, but to what extent? Did he just understand my curiosity from the tone of my voice and the horrible way I butchered his language?

He pointed at himself. "Sha'ktil-ar." His name. It was much more clear without the mask on like when he'd first introduced himself. Maybe he didn't understand me completely, but he understood enough to try to explain the word. He pointed at me again and repeated the same word, or name, confirming my thoughts. "Khu'wei."

Though I wanted to know what it meant, it was enough to know it was how he identified me. I figured that would be hard for him to explain, anyway, and if it was some silly name like "puny human" then I didn't want to know.

Instead, I just did my best to parrot him, though his name included a strange click I didn't think I could make. "Chalk. . .ilar." It felt foreign on my tongue and I was embarrassed at the bad attempt. "Kuway?"

Again he just chuckled at my horrid accent, then set his heavy hand on top of my head. I glowered and pulled my head out from under his hand. He chortled and stood up, took the mask from me, then left me to sit by myself in order to deal with his trophy. Fine then, I would just continue calling him Wolf until he made me stop.

A shiver seized my body and was so intense I felt it in my ribcage. "Please hurry. I'm cold."

Wolf glanced at me, his mask now back on his face, then stood up and gathered the ropes attached to the queen's head. He heaved it over his shoulder and dragged it up the ship's ramp and into the darkness. I watched warily, hoping that he would be coming back for me.

What exactly I wanted wasn't clear to me—did I want him to come back for me because I didn't want to sit in the cold by myself, or because I wanted to go with him?

My fingers were starting to feel numb and I breathed into my palms to warm them up. Sitting in the cold by myself with broken legs certainly wasn't something I wanted. The beds of my fingernails were turning purple-blue and all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and try to retain some body heat, but every time I tried it sent white-hot bolts of pain to my brain. Sitting with my legs straight out wasn't particularly comfortable, but if I tried to get into a more comfortable position all I did was hurt myself.

Being on that ship was better than freezing to death, even if it was going to be a permanent arrangement.

The woods rustled off to my left and I glanced back to look, but tried to keep one eye on the ship for when Wolf came back. He'd only been missing a couple minutes, but it still made me wonder how long he was going to make me sit out in the cold.

Like an asshole.

Honestly how long did it take him to drag that giant head through the ship?

It didn't seem like there was much to see in the woods, but when I looked away the bushes shook again and I peered into them, trying to see if some stupid squirrel was getting brave, but I thought it was too cold for squirrels, especially this early in the morning. It had to only be like seven in the morning, so I didn't think it was any sort of hiker, either. . . .

Maybe a snake or an elk. This park was well known for its elk population, but I couldn't imagine they'd wonder this close to something as strange as Wolf's ship.

I watched that same spot for several seconds, then started to turn my head toward the sound of footsteps. "It's about time. I'm freezing my ass—" A gloved hand clamped down on my mouth and I thrashed in surprise, my scream muffled.

"Shh, it's okay, we're gonna get you outta here."

Eyes wide, I tried the best I could to look up at a person swathed in some strange camo outfit. It didn't quite look military, but I wasn't sure what else it could be, and it didn't look like your normal gear, either: too thick.

"Where is it?" he asked, removing his hand when I lifted my own to pull it off. "Did it hurt you?"

All I could do was stare at him in disbelief. Where had he come from? Were there more? A quick scan around revealed other shadowy men lurking around to form a perimeter. My mouth hung open and I resisted his attempts to pull me up.

"Miss—miss it's okay. What's wrong—oh shit." He must have noticed my broken legs, or at least realized that they were hurt. He put a hand to his head, probably an earpiece, but the helmet he wore hid it from my sight. "Legs are injured, possible break. She's freezing cold, has lacerations and burns all over. . . ."

I checked out of his conversation. Rescue—the rescue I'd been hoping for. But it was technically too late and I didn't even _need _rescuing anymore. I didn't _want_ to be rescued. I should have been overjoyed to see these people. They were going to take me home, back to town, back to my family.

Back to a school where all my friends were dead, where I'd broken the one rule we'd all been given: don't go out into the woods until the military says it's safe.

Would Wolf even let them—oh no.

In my mind's eye I saw it. Wolf strapped to some cold gurney, probably dead with his ribcage broken open so they could poke at his insides and see what made him tick. We'd have his technology which meant so much for our science, for our advancement as a species. . .but could I do that to Wolf? I had no doubt that he'd be able to fight these guys off—if he hadn't just spent a whole night fighting and getting injured.

He was outnumbered, maybe outgunned with his shoulder-cannon gone. . . .

No. I didn't want that.

Maybe he was an asshole sometimes, but he'd saved my life. There was no denying that. When he could have left me to die, he took me under his wing and not only protected me, but gave me the means to protect myself.

"Wuh—"

The man hooked his arms underneath mine and started to pull me backwards, but immediately stopped when I winced and arched my back in pain. "Ah, shit—sorry. You'll be alright. We'll get you fixed up. Is it in the ship?"

No—no I wasn't going to let them have him.

"Wolf!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Mr. Military stopped short, looking around. He probably thought I was talking about an actual wolf. Joke's on him.

"Wolf! Wolf _get out of here_!" I shouted. "You have to leave!"

"Miss, it's going to be okay! There's no wolf, I don't understand," Mr. Military demanded, looking around frantically for this phantom wolf I was shouting about. He thought I was talking to him, or maybe just refused to believe that I was talking to the thing he was trying to save me from.

He hadn't let go of me and I struggled against him, but I was in no shape to get out of his grasp and even just trying to shrug out of his arms and dig my heels in was causing spots to pepper my vision.

A voice from the shadows. "In the ship! There it is!"

My eyes widened and I lashed my arms around to throw off my would-be rescuer. I saw Wolf, saw him jog down the ramp. As soon as he was clear of the door they opened fire and I screamed. "No! _No_! Stop it!"

The bullets ricocheted off the hull of the ship, off his sparse armor. A few hit true, but at the most he just seemed taken by surprise and irritated.

His masked head turned toward me and I heard him roar, watched him crouch into his familiar stance, arms out in a display of threat. I shook my head, terrified that he wouldn't win this fight. I was only slightly sure he'd intended to take me with him, but that scared me just as much as going home did.

However, if going home meant he'd leave in one piece, I could live with that.

"Just _go_!" I demanded, flinging my arm to punctuate my point.

"We're gonna get out of here, calm down!" My rescuer heaved me up and tossed me over his shoulder fireman style, causing me to gasp. Pain lanced all the way up to my midsection, causing my vision to blur. Even the sounds of gunfire seemed muffled, like I had been dunked in a vat of water.

I successfully fought off the darkness. "Go," I whispered, pleaded.

Wolf stood, hesitating. I silently willed him to disappear into his ship, each bullet that met its target almost hurting me physically. Each one made him flinch and back further into the ship.

He turned at last, dreadlocks arching, and disappeared into his ship. His arm swung up to bury his nose—figuratively speaking—into his wrist com. The ramp up to his ship closed up as the military soldiers closed in, and then the engines roared to life, warding them off again.

The trees started to close in and I tried to keep my head up, tried to make sure he was leaving. I heard the muffled sound of turbines whirring, and then I followed the ship as it lifted into the sky. They continued to shoot at it, but it was futile: it shot toward the atmosphere with dizzying speed. Branches made it difficult to track, but I kept trying until I heard the approach of helicopters.

Helicopters—the buzzing and humming I'd heard earlier.

How could I have not known?

They would have come to look for the missing troops. They would have seen the ship explode. The moment we made it out, we'd had a time limit. And time was up.

Now he was gone and I was being carried away. The helicopters couldn't hope to keep up with the ship, though they were trying hard. I thought I heard the sound of gunfire high in the sky, but I couldn't be sure. I slumped against my rescuer and closed my eyes.

Part of me—the selfish, scared part—wished he'd tried a little harder, but the majority was relieved. Relieved that he had gotten his trophy and left without hurting himself over it. Relieved that he'd left without me.

Relieved that I was going back to the home I knew.

And terrified by what that meant for me.


	16. Torn Away

**Hello readers!**

**Somehow I made it! Sorry the chapter's a little short, but there's not a whole lot going on!**

**Next update is due Tuesday, but I have a busy weekend at work. I'll do my best though, like I did this week! **

**I really appreciate every review I get, but I would just like to remind everyone that I have a set schedule for updates, so there's no need to ask me to update. :) Every five days like clockwork, I promise!**

* * *

><p>Chapter Fifteen<p>

Torn Away

"What happened to her? How did she get these wounds?"

"I'm not allowed to discuss that with you. Just get her stable until _our_ doctors can get here!"

"How am I supposed to treat her if we don't know the causes?"

"That's your _job_, lady!"

The nurse pushing my gurney shot a sour look at Mr. Military. Or. . .what had he said his name was? Mendes? Martinez? Something ending in an –es. I felt like it was Mendes, but I didn't care enough to remember his name completely. He'd insisted on tagging along, probably to make sure I didn't say anything about aliens. He told the nurses it was because he was concerned, but I knew.

He just didn't want me to tell anyone about what I'd been through.

I stared at the ceiling, counting the fluorescent lights as they passed by overhead. The nurse leaned into my line of sight and I focused on her face. Smiling, comforting. Probably no older than my mother. The tension in my body left just looking at her.

"Sweetie how did you break your legs?" she asked, glancing at Mendes.

Another nurse at my left lifted my arm to take my blood pressure on the run. Seventeen lights had passed by now.

"Good luck," Mendes snorted. "She hasn't said a single word since we picked her up."

Without turning my head, I looked over for Mendes. He was running alongside the nurse, eyes on me. Watching, waiting for me to give up information I wasn't supposed to give up. We held eye contact for a little bit, me glaring and him daring me to talk.

Well fuck him.

_I_ wanted to get better, and I figured I could give out bits and pieces of the picture.

"I jumped from really high," I said. "Landed wrong."

She nodded and we shoved passed two doors. The helicopter Mendes had put me on took me to Estes Park Medical Center, but none of it looked familiar from a stretcher. I'd been in the ER once when I'd broken my arm, but otherwise I really hadn't spent much time at the hospital, and I couldn't see much besides the ceiling: for some reason they'd decided I need a neck brace.

_Just in case_.

"The burn on your back, sweetie?"

"You don't need to worry about that," Mendes interjected.

I shot him a look and turned back to the nurse. "It was acid. I neutralized it already."

Mendes gave me a warning glare, but I looked away from him. All I had to do was not tell her it that the acid came from inside an alien, right? I wanted to get treated _now_, not _later_ whenever his doctor with the right level of security clearance bothered to show up.

My nurse seemed to notice the look and pat my shoulder. "We're gonna get you cleaned up and then take you to x-ray, okay?"

They pushed me into a room and, with the combined effort of the nurses, lifted my stretcher off the gurney and onto a real hospital bed, then they slipped it out from under me. Thanks to the wonderful thing called morphine, I barely felt a thing.

*:･ﾟ✧

A man in a doctor's coat leaned over me with a small light, shining it in my eyes. Everything seemed to be happening so fast, but I came to realize that I was slipping in and out of consciousness due to exhaustion and pain killers. Had I already had my x-rays? No I didn't think so. . .it just seemed to be a few minutes in the time gaps, nothing more.

"Hello, my name is Doctor Jacobs. I know a specialist is coming to see you, but there are some things that just can't wait. I need you to remember some colors for me, okay?"

"Yeah," I muttered, nodding.

He glanced over his little clipboard and prattled off the colors. "White, purple, green, black."

I closed my eyes to commit them to memory. The last thing I needed was to fail a concussion test when I didn't even have one. He probably should have done this _before_ they gave me painkillers, but who was I to complain? I'd been in quite a bit of pain after being tossed around on a helicopter. That whole ride had been a blur, but I remembered how much they stressed not talking about the alien ship.

About Wolf.

"Alright I'll ask you for them in a little bit. Do you know your name?" he asked. He was sitting on the edge of my bed.

Somehow I managed to think through the fog of drugs, then nodded. "Nichole."

"Do you have a last name, Nichole?" he asked, taking my pulse.

That was a little harder, but I pulled it out after a deep breath. "Nichole Shain."

Jacobs turned to look at someone I couldn't see and jotted a few notes down in his clipboard. "Do you know what day it is?"

Oh jeez I wasn't good at this on a _normal _day when my life _wasn't _in danger. What day was it? I'd been at school earlier yesterday. . .it wasn't the weekend. . . "Is it. . .Thursday?" It was more of a question than an answer.

The doctor nodded his head and smiled. It made his whole face move. "Yes. Do you remember those colors I asked you about earlier?"

I pursed my lips and thought about that briefly. "White, purple, black. . .and green?"

"Very good. Once an x-ray room opens up, we'll have a look at your legs. I'd give you more information, but I don't want to upset you until we have all the facts. In the meantime, I'm going to have some nurses cut you out of your clothes and get you into a gown, is that okay?"

My eyes immediately moved to Mendes. "You gonna watch?"

He rolled his eyes and stormed out the door. "I'm going to be right outside," he said before disappearing. His voice made it sound like he was trying to be comforting, but I could tell from the look he gave me that it was a threat.

Why was he so worried? What was I going to do, tell the doctors here that I'd been fighting aliens all night? They'd definitely think I had a concussion, or that I was reacting funny to the meds.

No, his precious little secret was safe.

*:･ﾟ✧

Having my x-rays done was the only thing familiar going on. It only took a couple people to move me to the table, then they put the lead vests down so I wouldn't get radiation poisoning. They checked my spine, too, but finally took off my neck brace when I threw a fit about having to wear it, and after Mendes confirmed that I had been fine when he found me.

The whole process took about twenty minutes, and then I was carted down to a wash room while those were being processed.

I was still covered head to toe in crusted-over alien spit, caked-on blood, and just various types of dirt and grime. The burn on my back especially needed to be washed, as did all of the cuts and the open wounds on my legs.

Everything was at a risk for infection.

Whatever they washed me with _burned_. Even through the pain killers. It made my skin red and itchy, and I had to be restrained a couple times to keep from scratching the wounds raw.

But after all was said and done, I was given my own room instead of a bed with the rest of the ER patients. I had a feeling that was Mendes' handiwork. Maybe to keep my from talking, maybe to keep the other patients from being curious. . . I thought maybe it was to keep any alien pathogens from being passed along, but so far no one had been wearing masks or those silly bio-safety outfits.

"My wrist hurts, too, but I think I just sprained it," I announced while the nice nurse from before—Jaime, she said her name was—stitched up the now-clean bite wound on my shoulder.

The funny staples Wolf had given me had been removed, but Mendes had told the nurse not to ask about them and had them bagged. He'd pocketed them somewhere on his person, but I wondered what kind of information they hoped to glean out of alien staples.

She glanced at me, then nodded. "Alright I'll look at it in just one second, sweetie."

I nodded in return and settled into my bed, trying not to look at my legs. Just as I'd feared, the bone had punctured the skin there. They'd done their best to set it, but the Doctor Jacobs had told me I'd probably need surgery.

Mendes insisted his "specialist" take care of it.

Jaime cut the suture and set down the equipment. "Okay, which wrist is it?"

"This one," I murmured, lifting the wrist in question. It had some discoloration, but nowhere near the amount of bruising on my legs or other parts of my body, and was only slightly swollen.

Very carefully she took my wrist in her gloved hands and massaged it gently, looking up from the tops of her eyes to gauge my reactions. When the pressure didn't do anything, she bent my wrist and manipulated my fingers until I winced.

"Definitely not broken, like you said probably just a bad sprain. I'll go get you a brace for it, okay? Will you be alright on your own?" she asked, glancing pointedly at Mendes.

I glanced at him too, then smiled faintly. "Yeah I'll be alright."

Nurse Jaime lingered a moment longer, looking torn, then nodded and left the room. The door clicked shut behind her and Mendes unfolded his arms from over his chest and approached my bed. My entire body tensed, making my muscles ache and stiches strain.

"You, uh, still in any pain?" he asked, not meeting my gaze.

My eyes narrowed. This wasn't his usual confident self. I guess he could handle being bossy but not comforting.

"Just a little. What do you care?"

He looked down at me finally and sniffed. "Just because I can't have you talking to anyone yet doesn't mean I want you in pain."

"Well I'm fine," I harrumphed.

For a moment he stood by my bed, then he cleared his throat. I looked up at him, brows knit together, waiting for him to speak.

"Is there anyone else out there we should be looking for? Other survivors, maybe?"

I turned my head so he wouldn't see my eyes water. Wouldn't see my lip quiver. When I was certain that my voice wouldn't betray me, I said, "You know there aren't. Not unless there are some people who got away when. . .when we were grabbed."

Mendes shook his head. "We've already spoken to the ones who made it out of the woods."

My neck popped when I turned too fast to look at him. "How many?"

"Twelve. We're still trying to discern how many more are missing, but not everyone's noticed their kids haven't made it to school," he said. His smile might have meant to be comforting, but it just looked like a smirk to me.

It took a couple seconds for that to sink in. Twelve of us had gotten away. Had never been grabbed or forced on that ship. They'd been the ones with a head start, or the ones fate, luck, whatever, had smiled down on. They were living, breathing proof that that the old adage was right. That there was safety in numbers.

So what was I living proof of?

Part of me knew what he was doing here, right now. He was warming me up, getting my gums flapping so he could ask all of the question I'd avoided on the ride over.

And he proved my point with his next question.

"Was it the alien you were with when we found you? Did it take all of you?"

"No," I answered—too quickly. His eyebrows quirked and I looked away from him. "No."

Now he had his prey in sight. "What was it doing there then? Why were you with it?"

My lips thinned into a line and I refused to look at him. He reached out, making me flinch, and pulled on the neck of my gown. "What is this mark it gave you?"

I looked up at him defiantly and held eye contact. "I don't know. Maybe he was going to take me with him and make me his bride. Maybe this is like their version of a wedding ring," I hissed through clenched teeth. Mendes recognized my sarcasm, but let go of me anyway.

Glaring at him, I shrugged the neckline back into place and rubbed the mark in question. The nurses had offered to put a bandage on it, but I'd told them it didn't hurt enough to warrant one.

He opened his mouth to say more, but as soon as he did the door swung open. Mendes closed his mouth and turned to look at the door, then stood up straight and backed up. I couldn't see it very well from where I sat, but I didn't need to. Whoever entered spoke as soon as the door was open wide enough and a pit formed in my stomach.

"Nichole? Nichole!"

The tears came before I could stop them. I didn't even care that Mendes was there to see me. If my legs weren't broken and if I was getting fluids intravenously, I would have stumbled from the bed. As it was, though, I couldn't move. I lifted my arms and choked back a sob.

"Momma!"

She came around the corner and practically collapsed on top of me. Her arms engulfed me and I embraced her. She was already in tears and I let myself break down. There was no reason for me to be brave anymore. The danger was gone, my parents were here to be brave for me. I felt my dad sit down next to us and I groped with my good hand for him until I felt his calloused digits squeeze my own. My mom babbled incoherently through her tears.

For the first time in the past several hours, I allowed myself to feel vulnerable.


End file.
